Kamen Rider Fool
by SHIN SUPNITLE Z
Summary: Minato Arisato moves to Iwatodai, stumbling into new people, a new school, and a new destiny that will take him on a wild adventure. He then shatters that destiny and replaces it with his own. P3 AU fic with Kamen Rider powers. Rated T for language.
1. Birth! Kamen Rider Fool!

Hi, I'm doing author comments because it's awkward not to do so.

So this is a fanfiction that's been going around my head for a long time actually, but I never got around to actually writing it until, well, last friday. I planned it on friday, (Like, the entire thing. Wrote a bunch of story notes, planned out what's going to make it different from P3, the belt design, all that crap) wrote about 1500 words or so on saturday, rushed about 5500 words saturday night, and wrote up the end to the first chapter today as well as the author notes. See, you can do things when you put your mind to them!

So, let me explain some things: **This is a P3 AU fic. **Now, I know what you're thinking, little jimmy. "A P3 AU fic? ANOTHER one? There are like, fifty million of those! Truly, you are the most horrible person and also unoriginal! Your head should be hanging in shame!" And in response, I would say, "Why, little jimmy! You're the worst person ever! Get out!"

... Is Little Jimmy gone?

Good, I hate that prick.

So anyway, for the rest of you that are saying that, I'd just like to say that really, if it was just a normal P3 fic, it'd just be a retelling of p3 which is _silly and boring, _so I might as well change some things around. And I swear, every detail about the game that I get wrong, like if Minato actually was able to experience the dark hour before and was used to it? _Completely intentional. _It's an AU. These will totally come into play later and it is totally not because I haven't played the games in forever.

For those of you confused as to what the hell "Kamen Rider" is, LET'S PLAY THE HISTORY GAME! Essentially, Kamen Rider is a really old Japanese TV series, usually with a seperate series every year. One series will start and conclude in a year, allowing the next one to start with the new year. For what it's like, _I would highly recommend you watch the shows, because they're **awesome as hell, **_but for a tl;dr, ever watch power rangers? It's like that, but more serious, generally revolving around one main "rider" instead of five of them, (although this does tend to vary! Ryuki had THIRTEEN RIDERS.) but still retaining some of the light hearted humor and kickass action sequences. I seriously cannot name a BAD rider series, all of them are at least _good. _This tends to vary, but in general, they're all great.

This fic, essentially, is Persona 3 with a bunch of changed plot, Minato being a jerkass, the persona powers being replaced with Kamen Rider abilities, and a bunch of other things changed in order to make it an AU. I don't know if it'll be any good or not, but I showed it to some guys and they liked it, (HI FFACE, HI MIKE, HI DANTE) so hopefully someone will find enjoyment in it as well?

So yeah, here goes nothing I guess.

* * *

_Time never waits._

_"... The hell?"_

_It delivers all equally to the same end._

_"Wasn't I dreaming about bridges or something a few seconds ago? What's with that butterfly?"_

_You, who wish to safeguard the future,_

_"I do?"_

_You will be given one year;_

_"... To do what?"_

_Go forth, never falter,_

_"To do WHAT?"_

_With your heart as your guide.._

_"Christ, you're impossible. I'm going to wake up now."_

With a snort, one Minato Arisato awoke on a bus. The previous relative he had been living with (He couldn't remember if it was his uncle or his much older cousin. At this point, their faces all tended to blend.) had decided to dump the teen into Gekkoukan High School: a fairly fancy boarding school. The fare was of no matter, as long as Minato was out of his relative's hair. The blue haired teen didn't seem to particularly care; he wasn't exactly on good terms with most of his relatives. _"The living ones, anyway." _After the sudden death of his parents in a car crash some number of years ago, Minato had been tossed about his family, staying with seemingly every single one of his relatives at some point. Getting away from them would be a joy.

Minato began to roll his head left and right, causing his neck to make disgusting, yet oh-so-pleasant, cracking noises. Sleeping in a bus was, in no way, comfortable. People were glancing at him, but he didn't seem to notice, and proceeded to pull his headphones out of his ears. If he was beginning to hear song lyrics in his sleep, it was probably a good idea to hold off on the music. With the electronic safely in his pocket, his eyes began to wander, although they were promptly interrupted by his ears indicating that the bus was hitting the brakes. With buses, this usually meant that the vehicle was stopping, which meant that whoever was getting off at this stop should walk out the doors. The sleepy teen didn't altogether seem to notice as people got up around him, with his only response being to rub his eyes.

Said action was promptly halted by a burst of worry in the form of a single thought impacting his brain. _"Shit. Where am I supposed to get off?" _What if he had accidentally slept through his stop, and was now several miles away from it? He didn't particularly relish the thought of having to walk so far, especially with the first day of his new school tomorrow. The worry compounded as he remembered that when he had fallen asleep, he was only ten minutes away from his stop. What if he had slept for an hour? As he frantically fished his phone out of his duffel bag, Minato was thinking of all kinds of horrible, hypothetical situations that could have happened to him. What if he actually was several miles away from his stop? What if he was in a different city? What if the bus was also an airplane and he was in CHINA?

_"... Or maybe I actually did only sleep for ten minutes." _His phone's clock eased Minato's worries, stating that indeed, he had only slept for ten minutes. He began to slowly put the phone away, surprised at his good luck, when he realized that this meant that this was his stop. And the last person in line just got off the bus.

"Shit."

Leaping into action, Minato tossed his duffel bag out the still open door and attempted to run towards the door. His path was blocked by the horrific obstacle known as 'the seats in front of him,' and he winced as his toes impacted the foot rest that had previous provided the appendages great comfort. This shocking betrayal didn't deter the student, and he continued on, inching towards the middle isle of the bus and running towards the doors, now with a slight limp. With a swish of air, the doors were now swiftly closing, much to Minato's dismay. In a last ditch effort, he leaped off of one foot, attempting to jump through the door before it managed to block off his exit entirely. In Minato's mind, he would probably make it out and then roll on the ground to break his fall.

In the process of doing so, however, he had made one fatal mistake: he had leaped off the foot still vaguely sore from the fierce battle against the treacherous footrest. The enormous leap came out as more of a clumsy fall, causing Minato to roll down the short set of stairs leading through the doors. This was embarrassing and fairly painful, but at least he would still make it out the door. Or at least, he thought he would, right before his left shoe was caught in between the two doors right as his arms impacted the ground, ready to roll. He was now stuck standing upside down, due to his foot refusing to budge. It seemed as though, in the worst moment possible, that his shoe had decided to betray him as well.

Help arrived arrived in the most unlikely of allies: the bus itself. When the great, big, yellow vehicle charged forward, it somehow dislodged his shoe from its sliding doors, allowing Minato to flop onto the thick concrete, finally rid of the ordeal of getting out of a bus. Unfortunately, the footwear had somehow gone flying, and he now had no idea where it was.

With a sigh, Minato picked up his duffel bag, wincing as his single, shoe-less foot touched the cold ground. It was still freezing, even with a sock. Holding the bag over his shoulder, the student began to go shoe hunting.

* * *

It had been in the fountain. Why on earth there was a completely random fountain, seemingly waiting for a shoe to land in it, right in the middle of a busy city, Minato didn't know. Shivering from the cold leather, he slipped the shoe onto his foot, feeling its moisture immediately begin to penetrate the fabric of his sock and seep onto his vulnerable foot. He quickly raised his dry shoe to kick the fountain in a fit of immaturity, but was forced to plant his wet shoe on the ground in order to do so. As he placed all his weight on the waterlogged footwear, it squished, causing the water to concentrate and make his sock even more wet and uncomfortable. Minato did not have a very positive view of this city thus far.

His view of the city did not exactly improve when he realized _the sky had just turned green._

He jerked his eyes upwards to look at the sudden change, taking a few steps backwards in shock. This caused his sock to become even soggier, but that was not exactly a pertinent issue at the moment. "What the hell...?" The sky was green. This, in general, was not a normal occurrence. Rather than being completely emotionless and uncaring about the situation, Minato did the normal thing and acted very, very surprised. Once the initial shock wore off however, he was slightly less worried. Sure this was... odd, but perhaps it was just the sky being weird? It could be a strange event in space that was causing this. He'd say it was surprisingly pretty, but the green was just... off, and not very pleasing to the eye. The slightly more optimistic chain of thought was promptly shot down when Minato realized that _everyone was now a coffin._

Sufficiently freaked the hell out, Minato began to run towards what his mind had designated as the nearest safe zone: the dorm he was going to live in.

* * *

Slamming the door behind him, Minato leaned against a nearby counter, attempting to catch his breath. "Jesus... the hell was that?" He'd never been so frightened in his life. Sure, there was that car accident, but that had been _mostly _possible. (Other than a few details he refused to admit happened.) The sky turning green and everyone becoming a coffin was most certainly not possible. He had no idea when this was going to end, but he was now safe in this dorm. Or at least, he hoped he was safe. The thought occured to him that he had no real reason for assuming this dorm was "safe." He hadn't actually seen any real dangers out there, but he had every single reason to think the possibility was there. And the dorm was just another building. What if there was an insane monster lurking outside? What if THIS DORM was the cause of all this? Maybe that's why his relative had sent him here. What if it was an enormous conspiracy by his relatives to eventually kill him off?

The fact that his overly suspicious and freaked out mind was considering that particular train of thought did not help when he saw Pharos.

"You're late."

Minato's head turned very slowly towards the source of the new voice. Sweat was beginning to run down the back of his neck, and the vague thought of taking a shower later crossed his mind, taking a back seat to the fact that _there was now a very creepy child in the room with him. _The fact that the child wasn't a coffin didn't help the creepy factor. "I've been waiting a long ti - "

The kid, who Minato would later learn was named Pharos, didn't get to finish his statement. This was because Minato had just grabbed him by the collar (_"Was that a prison uniform?")_ and shook him roughly. "Oy! What the hell is going on here?" Pharos opened his mouth to answer, but Minato kept asking questions. "Why is the sky green? Why is everyone a coffin except me? WHY AREN'T YOU A COFFIN?" At this point, Minato had hoisted Pharos up into the air, causing the small child's feet to dangle in the air. Pharos remained surprisingly calm in the face of all this, merely raising a pen to Minato's face. "... What?"

"All your questions will be answered if you sign this contract." With his other hand, he gestured to a contract on the counter Minato had previously been leaning on. Said contract was a single page in a thick, red, leather-bound book. Pharos grinned. "Go on." After glancing between Pharos and the contract that he swore had not been there a moment ago, Minato released the strange creepy child. Instead of dropping, he merely floated back down onto the ground, which was _creepy as shit. _Snatching the pen from Pharos' hand with equal parts aggression and franticness, Minato turned around and scribbled his name, near illegibly, onto the contract, not even looking at what it said. A moment after he did so, he realized that that was probably a very stupid decision. Glancing over at Pharos, he noticed the kid was smiling in a rather perturbing fashion.

"No one can escape time." This time, it was Minato who opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted. "It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your eyes and cover your ears." Shuffling over, Pharos picked up the contract book and slammed it shut, which somehow caused it to disappear into thin air. Ignoring Minato's quiet, yet easily audible, long string of profanities, Pharos smiled and gave one last foreboding message.

"And so it begins."

And he was gone.

Minato slid down against the counter, landing in a sitting position. At this point, he was exhausted mentally and physically. First the shenanigans with the bus, then the long hunt for his shoe, then the sky turning green, and now he had just been accosted by a small child and made to sign a contract. What had that contract entailed? Minato had no idea, and that was not a comforting thought. Glancing out a window, he saw that the sky was still green, and a coffin was easily visible. Gulping, Minato could hear someone walking by some nearby stairs, and he froze until he actually managed to see them.

It seemed to be a girl, about his age, and this immediately made him feel slightly more comfortable, at least a lot more so than he had with the crazy child. She spoke, and Minato could hear it even if he couldn't see her mouth move. "Who's there?" The fact that his low vantage point gave her a perfectly good view of her legs distracted him slightly from her words. Any and all fatigue he felt melted away as he stared at their wonderful shape and creamy... Minato slapped himself lightly. Being a teenage boy had its disadvantages.

He stood up, hands by his sides. "Christ, another person. I was - " The girl gasped slightly, and _pulled a gun out of its holster. _ and pointed it at Minato. The only male in the room instinctively brought his hands up in a nonviolent posture, backing up and heading towards the door. "Whoa! Jesus, calm down lady!" As he began to shuffle towards the door, the crazy girl didn't put her gun down until she noticed another voice coming down the stairs.

"Takeba, wait!"

The lights came back on and the world turned back into its normal, not-green-sky self. The single person visible from the window was no longer a coffin, either. The return of the regular world heralded the arrival of yet another pair of legs, although this time Minato could take the rest of her into account as well. Long red hair and a blouse covered her top half, while the aforementioned legs were covered by a black skirt, much longer than the skirt of crazy gun girl. Crazy gun girl also wore some kind of strange pink thing. Cardigan? Minato didn't pay much attention to women's clothing. Her light brown hair made crazy gun girl rather pretty. In fact, both women were very good looking. Minato didn't care in the slightest at the moment.

The red haired girl spoke. "I didn't think you'd arrive so late. I'm Mitsuru Kirijo, one of the students who live in the dorm." Minato was not altogether in the mood for fanciful introductions. He regained his posture, his hands down by his sides again.

"Do you greet all your guests like this? Make some crazy little kid freak them out into signing a contract, and then have some broad come in and point a gun at them?" Said gun-wielding broad seemed very aggravated by the rather accurate description of her, but Minato continued. "Forget it. I'm going to bed." He angrily walked past them, heading up a pair of stairs while hoisting his duffel bag across one shoulder. Pulling them out of his pocket, he held a pair of keys up in the air. "I know my room number. Don't bother me because I am _fairly _freaked out at the moment."

After climbing up the stairs three steps at a time, Minato disappeared into the second floor. A door slamming could be heard moments later.

Minato didn't get much sleep.

* * *

His dreams of contracts and creepy little kids (They were more accurately described as nightmares) were interrupted by a loud, annoying alarm clock. After nearly breaking it with his fist slamming onto some button, Minato realized that his button press didn't actually do anything, and that horrible, horrible noise continued. He began to randomly twitch his fingers around the alarm clock, hoping that he would manage to press the correct button at some point. Thankfully, he did. Of course, this still meant he had to go through the awful process of waking up.

The epic battle of Minato struggling against the forces of his blanket and clothing buttons is one that will be told another day, but he eventually managed to be standing in the middle of his room, holding an empty duffel bag and tossing his mp3 player onto the bed. It would be rude to listen to it in class. His ears alerted him to a knock on the door, and he groaned slightly. If it was crazy gun girl again, he was going to slam the door in her face.

It was crazy gun girl. He slammed the door in her face.

Apparently having no idea what such vague ideas as "Privacy" and "Social niceties" are, crazy gun girl proceeded to open the door anyway and walk into the room, where Minato was already stuffing his phone into his pocket. She raised an eyebrow, looking fairly annoyed. "You're certainly making a great first impression so far."

Minato snorted. "So said the crazy gun woman." She blushed embarrassedly, and began to babble some kind of explanation Minato wasn't paying attention in the slightest to. He sighed, but still managed to catch her last statement.

"Anyway, Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school." Crazy gun girl looked none too happy about this. "It's getting late, so... are you ready to go?" Minato waved her off.

"Go yourself, I don't need your help."

The girl behind him sighed. "I said I'm sorry for the gun thing, alright? You don't want to be late for school, so just accept my help already!"

Minato shrugged, putting his hands up in that same, non-violent posture from last night. "Alright, alright. Geez, no need to shout. Just let me get my shoes on." His feet, now with a new pair of socks on, slipped into his standard issue school uniform school shoes. He proceeded to walk out the door without saying a word, making Yukari to follow him, annoyed. She was further annoyed when he stopped in the doorway, seemingly for no reason. "... Goddamnit."

"... What?"

"My shoe's still wet."

* * *

The trip to the school passed mostly without incident, although awkward silences were plentiful. Although, apparently crazy gun girl's name was Yukari, and according to red haired girl, who was apparently named Mitsuru Kirijo, her last name was Takeba. The duo got onto a train, and eventually saw the actual school. It was big, fancy, and grandiose. This did not change the fact that it was a place of learning, which, to Minato, meant it was a torture chamber for teachers to shove their drivel down your throat. "So, that's it." Yukari said, probably referring to the school. "See, there it is!" There was an incredibly large detail about the school that Minato was a little bit skeptical about. "I've always liked riding on these. It feels like I'm fl - "

"Why is it on an artificial island."

"... Uh, well - "

"What is the point."

"It's be - "

"It's a freaking _school!_"

* * *

After that wonderful conversation, Yukari evidently did not feel like talking to Minato much any more, so she left him to his own devices after they reached the shoe lockers. Gratefully depositing his shoes in the locker he had been assigned to, Minato began to walk around, hoping no one noticed that he was leaving a single, wet footprint from his sock every two steps. There was quite a colorful cast of characters in the school. _"Let's see... The obligatory glasses girl, the completely nondescript athletic guys, the fat kid... Yep. Average Japanese high school." _He decided to skip talking to any of them. _"Not like I'm going to get close to any of these people."_

Apparently, he was supposed to head to the faculty office, so he decided to enter the room with the big sign that said "FACULTY OFFICE." Really, why first years tend to get lost on any campus with everything so easily labeled, Minato had no idea. In there, he stood around awkwardly until someone noticed he was there. Conveniently, this person seemed to be his homeroom teacher. She went up to him, asking a question right off the bat. "Oh, are you the new student?"

_"No, I'm just standing here for no reason." _Minato nodded. "Yep."

She pulled some kind of piece of paper from nowhere, beginning to read off it. If Minato had cared more, this could have been highly embaressing. He wondered if she did this to every student. It seemed kind of rude. "Minato Arisato... 11th grade, correct?" More nodding from Minato's end ensued. "Wow you've lived in a lot of different places..." His extended family was scattered around Japan, with some living in countries or even on different continents altogether. "Let's see... In 1999... That was what, ten years ago?" The snarky comment in Minato's mind about how this lady was hopefully not a math teacher went unheard by anyone but himself. "Your parents..." She gasped, and Minato winced. This was exactly why you do not read a student's biography out loud to him, and also why you should probably read them before hand. "I'm sorry... I've been so busy, I didn't have any time to read this beforehand."

_"Yes, you didn't read the paper you just finished reading in about five seconds because you were far too busy." _Minato was beginning to think that he would make a much better teacher than this one in particular. No matter how fancy the school looked, his first impression of its faculty was not a favorable one so far.

"I'm Ms. Toriumi." Minato nodded, indicating that he had managed to absorb this new, exciting bit of knowledge. "I teach composition. Welcome to our school."

"Uh, thanks." He would have spoken with more enthusiasm, but that would be impossible, for there was no enthusiasm to speak with. Ms. Toriumi proceeded to tell Minato his room number and corral him over to the auditorium, where the principal appeared to be giving a speech.

* * *

_"This speech is terrible and I think I'm going to sleep."_

And so he did.

* * *

Minato slept through most of the day, with the only break being the move from the auditorium from the classroom. He was exhausted from the previous day's events; as much as he wished it could, staring at legs could not truly heal fatigue, and he still felt awful. What did not feel awful, however, was sleep. His journey into the absolutely wonderful world of arm-pillows and drooling was interrupted by another student. _"Tall. Male. Lanky. Stupid looking. If all the students in this school are like this, I will shoot myself later."_

"S'up, dude? How's it going?"

With a groan, Minato answered, dragging the words out, obviously implying that he was not interested in talking. "What do you want?"

The stupid looking person winced. "Oh, come on. Let me introduce myself, at least." Before Minato could choose whether to tell him to go away in a less subtle manner or merely get up and walk away, idiot-face continued. "I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya." Minato said nothing in response, only making a bland, uninterested face. Junpei looked kind of anxious, but kept talking. "I transferred here when I was in eight grade." He paused, looking at Minato for any reaction. The blue-haired teen only raised an eyebrow, moving his right hand in a circle in the universal motion for telling the other person to keep going. "Uh, I know how tought it is bein' the new kid... so I wanted to say, "hey." ... See what a nice guy I am?"

"That's great. Really. Thank you." Minato said, as he picked up his duffel bag and prepared to walk away. Junpei attempted to follow him, and both males were approached by a rather annoyed looking Yukari.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."

The two proceeded to engage in some banter Minato did not listen to, only continuing to walk away. His plan seemed like it would almost work, at least until Yukari began talking to him. "Anyway, it looks like we're in the same homeroom."

"... Yes. I know."

Yukari frowned, although Minato considered it a perfectly logical, if not rude, response to the statement of something that was _completely obvious. _She seemed as though she were about to say something, but was interrupted by Junpei attempting to make the atmosphere a little more jovial by implying something awkward happened between the two. "So, uh, I heard you two came to school together this morning. What's the deal with that?" A lecherous grin crossed his face. "Come on, give me the scoop!"

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Minato winced. Denying it so frantically was not a good way to ease suspicions. "We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? Why are people even talking about it?" In no case had Minato seen or heard anyone else talking about their voyage to school together other than this one idiot named Junpei. "Now you have me worried..." Yukari looked at Minato, worry evident in her face. "Hey... You didn't say anything to anyone about... you know what, did you?"

"_... Did she seriously just say that? Is she ASKING for the perverted youth over there to make a comment?" _Minato's outward answer was a bit more polite. "No."

Yukari sighed. "Okay, good. Seriously... don't tell anyone about last night, alright?"

_"..."_

"..."

"... Wh-what?"

"... Last night?"

"_Yes. Yes she is. I might as well add more fuel to the fire." _Minato put on a bewildered look. "'The hell are you talking about? I didn't do _that _with you. Not last night, anyway."

Minato quickly power walked out of the room, leaving a blushing and speechless Yukari and a Junpei who looked as though he might start bowing down to the blue-haired figure leaving the room. Minato then had to start running, because Yukari was chasing after him.

* * *

When Minato came back to the dorm, he noticed some guy with gray hair. Why exactly someone in high school had gray hair, Minato didn't know. He could have bleached it or something, but what was the point? It looked _silly. _He gave a greeting to Minato, but the blue-haired teen didn't seem to care much and merely trudged upstairs to his room.

Maybe they were having a conversation downstairs. He certainly heard words being spoken as he went upstairs. Apparently, gray hair was going out for a bit.

Minato went out for a bit as well: into his bed, that is.

The next day went very much like the first day, only without the awkward introductions and faculty office visit. Minato went to school, took naps, and blew off anyone he could possibly make friends with. Nothing of note truly happened.

Other than meeting Igor.

* * *

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man..."

To Minato, it appeared as though his dream was being trippier than usual. He might as well go along with it.

"My name is Igor... I am delighted to make our acquaintance." Minato nodded.

"I'm Minato and what the hell did I smoke last night to dream about you?" Igor seemed to ignore him as the long-nosed man continued.

"This is Elizabeth. She's a resident here, like myself." Elizabeth was fairly attractive. Minato noted that almost every person here he had met so far had been at least fairly attractive. Other than Junpei. And that fat kid. And a few of the students. Actually, there were a few unattractive people, but it would still be a lie to say that there weren't tons of incredibly attractive people. Minato was interested in none of them, however. The attractiveness of the people around him was of no importance; these strange dream people were a bit more important at the moment.

Elizabeth looked at him. "Pleased to meet you."

Igor continued speaking. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter... It's been years since we had a guest." Ignoring the crazy man's words, Minato began to inspect the surroundings of what he was beginning to suspect was not actually a dream. It felt far too real. And considering that inane crap that had been happening to him lately, he would not be entirely surprised if it was not a dream. The "Velvet Room" appeared to be a large, blue elevator. Igor and Minato were sitting in chairs, with a table inbetween them, while Elizabeth was forced to stand. How sexist. The Elevator appeared to be rapidly moving upwards, with a chain fence behind Igor.

And then the contract appeared on the table. Minato merely stared at it, blocking out the man's words. He then looked at Igor. And back at the contract. Then back to Igor. Then back to the contract. Then back to Igor.

"I only ask for one thing in return... that you abide by the contract, and assu - "

Tossing the table to the side, Minato stomped towards the long-nosed man in front of him and hoisted him up in the air by his collar. "The hell is going on, old man? What is in that contract? Why's all this weird shit happening? Who was that kid? ANSWER ME!"

Igor remained completely in control, disturbing Minato greatly. "You're a wild one."

"... You're not going to answer me, are you?"

"Perhaps, you may be the wildest of the wild cards."

"... No. Of course you aren't. Of course."

Minato put Igor down, returning to his seat, pointedly not returning the table to its proper position. Igor continued with his speech as if nothing had happened. "In time, you will understand your role..." A sigh escaped Minato's lips. He had expected to go to this school, and have it be much better than his previous life. Now he was dealing with creepy children and insane old men with contracts. "Hold onto this..." And now a magic glowing key manifested itself in his pocket. Of course. Igor gave one last message to Minato.

"'Till we meet again..."

And then he woke up.

* * *

The rest of the day, Minato's thoughts were completely and utterly filled with the events of last night's "dream." It had probably happened, due to the velvet key appearing in his pocket when he woke up. Or at least, where his pocket would be if he wore pants to bed. He had stared at it for a good ten seconds after he woke up before tossing it at the wall and going off to take a cold shower.

Once he managed to calm himself down, Minato prepped for school like normal, heading towards the train. The thought occurred to him that he may be in denial, what with going throughout the day as if nothing happened. He blew off Junpei as he entered school, slept through a lesson, and headed home immediately. All things he would have done normally. He wrote complete trash for his homework, but made it long enough that the teacher would probably still give him full credit anyway. The teachers weren't completely stupid, but he couldn't imagine anyone taking the time to read through every single individual assignment. They probably only skimmed, and using big words in a lengthy assignment would, even if it was complete arse, still give you full credit. It had worked for him in the past, so he assumed it would work for him in the future.

The homework didn't really take too long, but he decided to go to sleep quickly anyway, hoping to enter the Velvet room again. Maybe this time, he wouldn't freak out as much and could even get some answers. After all, this stuff was happening, so he may as well accept it and attempt to figure out what the hell is going on.

His sleep would be interrupted in the worst way possible.

Crazy gun women.

* * *

In case Igor ended up magic-ing something into his pocket again, Minato had worn pants to bed. He had spent a good half a minute that morning attempting to figure out where in his blankets the Velvet Key had been, due to it moving thanks to his constant twistings and turnings while sleeping. The pants wearing, in hindsight, had been a very good decision, since Yukari opened his door without his permission after waiting about five seconds after knocking. She was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing all day (And yesterday, for that matter. Actually, hadn't she been wearing that when he first arrived?) and had that gun strapped to her thigh. In one hand, she also held a short sword.

Thanks in part to their rather unfortunate past together, Minato was rather freaked out and began to back away, hands up in a nonviolent posture. "Jesus, what did I do? Is it the comment I made about banging you, because that was just a joke."

Yukari rolled her eyes, but looked worried enough to get Minato faintly curious about what was happening. "I don't have time to explain, but we have to get out of here. Now!" Minato was about to ask why, but then the building shook.

"... Alright then."

"Hurry, downstairs! We'll leave through the back door." She stopped for a moment, as if pondering something, and then pointed the sword at Minato. The blue-haired teen immediately put his hands up, hoping to protect his fleshy bits with his slightly less important fleshy bits, but then realized she was holding it out to him to grab. "Take this, just in case." Minato was tempted to make a comment about how the blade was not the smartest place to grab a sword, but decided to awkwardly reach forward and grab the blade by the hilt Yukari was already holding. "... Okay! Let's go."

* * *

Quite a bit of running later, Minato and Yukari managed to make it to the back door, momentarily stopping to catch for breath. She looked at him. "Alright, we should be safe now." Minato opened his mouth, about to launch a couple dozens questions at her, when some kind of transceiver interrupted him.

_"Takeba, do you read me?"_

Yukari answered back, with Minato deciding to save the questions for until she finished. "Y-Yes! I hear you!"

_"Be careful! There's more than one enemy!" _Minato blinked. There were enemies? "_The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!"_

"... What?" The back door chose that particular moment to have something knock on it several times. Very hard. Yukari gasped. "Let's pull back!" Once again ruining Minato's ability to ask any questions, Yukari bolted up the stairs, the blue-haired teen forced to follow her. As they ran up the stairs, (Minato had a nice view, he had to admit, due to her running up the stairs above him) Yukari began to vocalize her worries. "What are we going to do...? They're downstairs! Do we have any choice but to go further up?" Apparently, they didn't, since she continued to run up the stairs. Once they reached the fourth floor, the ground began to shake and Minato could have sworn he heard something break.

While Minato's response was along the lines of "jesuschristwhatthefuck," Yukari's response was just a bit more eloquent.

"It's getting closer! K-Keep moving! HURRY!"

The two went up another pair of stairs, and eventually made it up to the rooftop, panting for breath. Yukari sighed. "I think we're okay for now..."

As if to spite her, the monster decided to show up right after she said that. It seemed to be crawling up the side of the wall, and was unlike anything Minato had seen before. The first he saw of it was a hand: a black, shadowy mass that vaguely formed a hand slapping down onto the rooftop, causing Yukari to gasp and Minato to take a step back. Several more hands followed, and the duo was frozen in fear, a feeling that was only compounded when the mask popped up. It was a blue mask, rather creepy and emotionless, and seemed to just be randomly placed in the middle of the black, writhing mass of hands.

Minato had seen creepy children. Minato had seen men with noses longer than their necks. Minato had seen the fury of a woman scorned. None of that, however, had posed a serious threat to his life. Except Yukari pointing a gun at him, but he didn't think she would have been able to go through with that anyway. This thing, however, seemed dangerous; life-threateningly dangerous. And, if the fact that it began moving towards Yukari and Minato was an indication, hostile as well. It also seemed to have at some point, manifested a sword in each hand from seemingly nowhere. Minato looked at his puny, singular sword. "... Oh my god.

I'm going to die." At this point, with all the insane crap going on in his life, he didn't quite mind. Maybe he'd get out of that contract then. Thoughts of death were interrupted by Yukari nudging his shoulder, attempting to get Minato's attention.

"These monsters... we call them shadows." And then she pulled out the gun. Minato, for a moment, thought that she would shoot the monster and it would hopefully bleed to death or something, but instead, she _pointed the gun at her face. _Minato's jaw dropped, and he was about to attempt to stop her when she pulled the trigger.

Instead of a splatter of blood, what looked like shards of glass came out the other end of her face, and columns of energy began to rise up around Yukari. The glass began to spin around her, heading towards her waist. It was around this point, Minato would later think, that he stopped caring about the crazy stuff. If it was happening in his life, he might as well deal with it. There didn't seem to be any exit other than dying, and Minato wasn't quite sure if he was strong willed enough to end it all.

Ignoring the fantastical display of lights, the shadow charged forward, slapping the gun out of Yukari's hand. It then hit her in the face, knocking her out instantly. She was lucky that one of the swords hadn't struck her. The creature then turned its attention to Minato, and the teen damn near pissed his pants.

"... Yeah. I'm gonna die." Minato said as the creature began to slowly crawl towards him. "I was going to die anyway." He paused, recalling words that he distinctly remembered were not his own. "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your eyes and cover your ears." He didn't quite know why he was quoting the creepy kid from a few nights ago, but it seemed fitting. He was about to die, after all, right?

Minato glanced towards the gun as the shadow inched towards him. Yukari had dropped it, and it had somehow landed in front of him. Without thinking, he picked it up. It was pretty light. There didn't seem to be any actual ammo in it. That would make sense, considering that Yukari hadn't blown her brains out when she shot herself. A sudden image of that kid's creepy grin, along with him saying, "Go on." flashed in Minato's brain, and he stared at the gun once more.

Minato stared the monster down.

"... You know.

At this point, I don't even know what's going on anymore.

First the sky turns green, then I meet that creepy kid and the old man... and now you're attacking me." He pointed the gun to his head. "Now, I think I'm getting used to this crap." He paused. "See! The word 'persona' just entered my head, and apparently I'm supposed to say that." A grin appeared on Minato's face. It had been a while since he grinned. "But I won't.

You know why? Because I won't let you freaks control my life. I'm choosing my own fate, and you killing me isn't a part of it!"

He pulled the trigger.

"HENSHIN!"

* * *

_That night on the bus, Minato had been dreaming about a young man. The young man's life was seemingly perfect, and he spent his days wandering about a grassy field, charming his love with his lyrical voice and musical skills._

_One day, the fields of grass they were walking on morphed into a bridge of cold steel. The sky turned green and the young man's love disappeared. He wandered around, persuading others to lead him to others who may hold his love._

_Eventually, he managed to find that love, but before they could join hands once more, a figure in a dark cloak swooped in, covered in coffins and wielding a short sword. That figure stole his love, and the young man could only watch as he took her away._

_The young man became bitter from the experience: hardened and rude in contrast to his previously happy state. He left the bridge, his life seemingly shattered._

_As Minato watched it all unfold in the realms of his dreams, he noticed what looked like a blue butterfly fluttering around that young man._

* * *

Pillars of white energy came into existence around Minato, swirling around the teen. What looked like blue glass shards erupted from the other side of his head in an explosion of light, and the glass shards began to move together, circling Minato's head and moving downwards until they reached his waist. They began to spin faster and faster until, in a flash that left Minato unable to see quite what the glass shards did, they formed a belt around his waist. The belt was mostly red, with small, silver squares on the sides and a black panel on the front, with what looked like a clip and a gun-shaped outline on it. Moving without thinking, Minato brought the hand holding the evoker up and slid the gun onto the front of the belt with a theatrical flair, causing the handgun to emit a solid click noise when it attached onto the belt.

With the Evoker now embedded onto the belt, Minato, still moving instinctively, raised his left hand in the air. Blue mist appeared in his hand, quickly followed by a card blinking into existence. On one side of the card, there was an image of a man straying at the edge of a cliff with a dog behind him. The other side held a picture of a mechanical figure with white hair eerily similar to Minato's, labeled as "Orpheus." Upon closer inspection, both sides of the card had the number 0 written on it somewhere. Still holding the card in his left hand, he brought that hand to the right side of his waist, while lifting his right hand into the air and bringing it up about a foot in front of his left shoulder. As both hands moved in opposite directions, the right hand moving to the left and the left hand moving to the left hip, the card slid across a small slit on the top of the evoker as Minato assumed the pose. This caused a synthesized voice, deep and not-mechanical sounding, to emit from the evoker.

**_"ORPHEUS FORM."_**

The pillars of light circled around Minato even faster, forming a tornado of white flames that obscured him from the Shadow's view. When the shadow attempted to pierce through the flames, his sword shattered into pieces.

Under the flames, Minato couldn't see anything, but he could feel the armor forming around his body. What felt like a thick, uniform, full body jumpsuit appeared first, made of a light, yet incredibly durable seeming material. The armor itself appeared next, with a chestpiece clamping onto his body, followed by armor that covered his back, forearm guards, greaves, and shoulder pads. He felt his shoes changing as well, although he could not place exactly how. The blue flames eventually exploded outward, revealing Minato's new form.

The jumpsuit was white, and felt and looked sort of like spandex. The armor itself was a much heavier, metallic substance, but was not so heavy as to restrict Minato's range of movement. His chestpiece and angular shoulder pads were turquoise, but the forearm guards and greaves were a white that matched the jumpsuit. What seemed to be the speaker from the sound system was attached onto his stomach, with two metallic strips forming an X covering it. His shoes had been replaced by incredibly thick black, yet short, boots, with white strips of metal covering the top of his foot. A white helmet with a red line running down the middle covered the majority of his head, although it was built to obscure a bit more of the right side of his face, which was itself covered by a thick black mask with red, demonic compound eyes he could somehow see out of.

Minato, not missing a beat, gave a practice swing with the sword he was still holding. Underneath the mask, he was grinning. This way, he probably wouldn't die after all. Entering a fighting stance, he spoke the name of what this strange new armor was. It was him. It was the face he put on everyday in order to face life. It was his persona.

It was what made him who he was.

It was...

"Kamen Rider... Fool!" Minato pointed the sword at the Shadow, as if he were issuing a challenge. "Prepare to face the consequences for your acti - !"

A sudden, piercing pain shot through him. The pillars of light appeared once more, now black instead of white, and formed a tornado of ebony flames that surrounded him. The Orpheus form armor seemed to be forcibly ripped from his body, exposing him to the heat of the flames and a power that was far too much for him to handle. Armor that felt similar in construction to his previous armor formed on his body, and he felt some form of disc covering the evoker on his belt.

When the flames dissipated, Minato immediately noticed the eight coffins still swirling around him, and the fact that the Shadow was now running. The coffins began to attach themselves onto his body, disappearing into his armor and causing a yellow cross to appear on each plate of armor it contacted. When the chestplate, right leg, forearms, and shoulders had the crosses integrated into their armor, the remaining two coffins spun around, attaching to Minato's back and transforming into a pair of black, demonic wings. The belt spoke the name of Minato's form again, although the voice this time was deeper, and sounded more sinister.

**_"THANATOS FORM."_**

Before he knew it, incredible blood lust overtook Minato. The only thought in his head was to destroy the shadow who had _dared _to try and attack him. To rip every one of its limbs off, savoring the splattering of whatever internal fluids it had all over his armor; to takes its swords and run each and every single one individually through that blue mask, cracking and tearing chunks off of it; to slash at it repeatedly, leaving the shadow in so many pieces that the greatest mind in the world could not solve the puzzle of flesh; to finally take the mask of the ruined shadow and crush it to dust in his hand, ending this battle once and for all.

Minato gave a battle cry, a horrible, inhuman battle cry, charged forward, and proceeded to do just that.

And then he passed out, the armor disappearing from his body.

The last thing he saw was a butterfly.

* * *

AND THEN I GOT THROUGH THE FIRST FEW DAYS IN A SINGLE CHAPTER

So yeah. Read and review, all that stuff that generally goes at the end of a chapter. Was this good? Was it awful? Should I keep going or would I be killing kittens by doing so? Please tell me, I'd be happy to hear criticism, etc.

Also no, I didn't read the chapter fully before I published it. I skimmed it and relied on other people to read throughly for me - I mean, of course I read through it fully! What are you talking about?


	2. Clash! Battle in the Tower of Midnight!

Whoa! Another chapter! And it's almost two weeks since the last one. Is that a long time? Not really familiar with how fast fanfic writers usually update. I hope I didn't take too long though! D:

Anyway, reviews. I got some! They were positive, and I find this surprisingly pleasant. Let's respond to them because otherwise I would feel like a dick.

**Addie Card: **Hey, thanks! :D I was kinda worried it would be a slightly underwhelming first chapter, since other than minato being a dick and the slight twist at the end, it was basically just P3, so it's nice to know I'm off to a good start. As for the questions...

1. Minato will still be able to use other personae, but they'll be treated rather unusually. Other personae will appear pretty soon, just not this chapter.

2. If by Rider Tech, you mean stuff for the riders to use, then **hell yes.**

3. Yes, they appear in this chapter. Excitement!

4. Mostly, it follows the original P3, although certain elements from P3P and maybe FES will appear.

5. **YES :D**

**Eggmiester: **It's really nice to get such a glowing review. It's like, 'oh man will anyone like this' and then BAM, I get these reviews and I feel all happy and stuff. Criticism is, in the long run, a lot more useful but good comments like this help keep me motivated to write. (Seriously, this chapter is like, 11,500 words long.) But anyway, thanks!

Minato's pretty much an OC in everything other than name and the fact that he's basically taking Minato's place in the game. Although really, he was kind of a blank slate in the games anyway.

**FFace: **GO AWAY FFACE [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

(thanks~)

**Destinydeck: **So many positive reviews! I'm sort of surprised, but hey, people like it! I'm happy with that. Hamuko will eventually be in the fic, although I can't say much other than that due to spoilers.

**Hishin Trueflame: **I read that fic, and I enjoyed it, but I was kinda vaguely disappointed that he didn't keep writing. (Or at least, he didn't from when I last checked.) I do hope I keep writing this though, because otherwise I will look like a tool! A tool and a fool!

**Titan: **Well, uh, here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy :D

So yeah, with that, here's the next chapter. It covers the events up to the first Tartarus visit, which is a LITTLE BIT CHANGED from the games. Just a little. Also yeah, I mashed together some days of the game to save space. Apparently atlus did that just to pad out the game anyway so idklol?

Also of note is that I've chosen the ED theme (fight theme) for the first part of this fic! On youtube, just search 'Janne Da Arc Mr Trouble Maker' and it should be the first result. I chose it because 1. I love the band 2. It's a pretty badass song 3. Minato is sort of a trouble maker, isn't he? 4. LOLENGRISH IT IS AMUSING. I would want it to start playing when Minato says "Fine with me" in Tartarus, but you can start listening to it whenever. Or you can just not! I don't particularly mind either way.

So here's some Kamen Rider silliness.

* * *

"It's so _nice _to see you again."

When Minato usually woke up, it was a pleasant experience. The sun shines in through his window, casting a warming light that spreads throughout his room, making the room feel incredibly cozy and warm, especially with the blanket over him. In times like that, he usually didn't want to get up mostly because he was usually tired, but partly because it felt really nice to lie just lie there.

This time, when Minato woke up, he was sitting in a cold and rather uncomfortable chair in a blue room. He didn't particularly like it.

Almost immediately snapping to attention, Minato realized that he was in the "Velvet Room" again. A flood of memories from what happened last night (Or at least, what he _thought _was last night.) broke through whatever mental dam had been holding them back. _"I... transformed?" _The cool air of the rooftop, the fear of being attacked by those _things, _and the rush of energy when he finally changed into whatever it was he turned into were now all fresh in his mind, and his feelings on the matter were rather conflicted. He didn't know what was going on, and even with those incredible powers, fighting evil creatures screamed "danger" to him. And what had he turned into, anyway? _"Originally, I transformed into Orpheus form, but.. what was up with that Thanatos form?" _Dozens of questions ran through Minato's head, each with more horrifying connotations than the last.

On the other hand, _he had just transformed into a Kamen Rider. _Minato was a teenage boy. And, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was kind of a nerd. He had never really hung out with people, so he spent a lot of his timing playing games or watching television. As such, he had always been fascinated with henshin heroes, and had occasionally wondered what it was like to be one, always casting off the thoughts because they were silly and impossible.

Only, now they weren't impossible. In fact, it had just happened. _"... I'm a Kamen Rider._

_... Awesome." _Minato then turned his attention to Igor, who seemed to be talking.

"You became unconscious after awakening to your power." Pangs of worry shot through Minato. So the power WAS dangerous? It had always been so in the TV shows too, and there it usually had some very grave consequences. If Igor noticed the worry on Minato's face, the old man made no mention of it as he continued. "... It's nothing to worry about, though. So, just relax." The statement greatly alleviated Minato's worries, and he let out a sigh of relief. "By the way... I see that it was Orpehus that heeded your calling."

Minato nodded. "His face was on the card I made." As if to demonstrate, Minato held his hand out, causing the card to appear once more in a spray of blue mist. Once he grabbed it, it felt very much like a standard playing card, with the same texture and general shape. It looked the same as it had the previous night, with a picture of Orpheus with its name written underneath it; the picture of a man walking off a cliff with a dog behind him was on the other side. Vaguely attempting to remember facts from a book he had read a long time ago in a fit of boredom, Minato began to recite what he knew of Orpheus. "He was that guy from the Greek myth, right? Went to hell to get his girlfriend, almost made it until screwed up and made her disappear forever." He was handling this surprisingly well. His resolution from that night on the roof stood firm: he found himself becoming slightly more apathetic about the whole situation, accepting that it was happening and going with wherever it went.

Igor nodded. "That power is called a Persona... It is a manifestation of your psyche." Minato didn't actually know the exact definition of the word 'psyche,' but he knew it was something to do with yourself or something. This seemed to mean that Orpheus was himself or something? That idea didn't sit well with Minato.

"Wait. _Orpheus _is the manifestation of my psyche?" Minato raised an eyebrow. "I dunno, I don't think I'm nearly as stupid as that guy. I mean seriously, in the original myth he looked behind himself _like an idiot_ and got his girlfriend whisked off to the underworld forever. Seriously, what kind of an idiot does that?"

"Considering that Orpheus is the mask you use to face life, you two are actually similar in many different ways."

Minato processed that statement.

"...

Wait.

... Did you just call me stupid - "

"In any case, it seems that humans have tampered greatly with the power of persona as of late." Minato scowled. Normally, he would punch the old man in the face for saying something like that, but he didn't know if Igor could secretly make his brain explode with a single thought or something. It didn't help, however, to see Elizabeth stifle a giggle out of the corner of his eye. Igor continued, acting oblivious to Minato's displeasure. "When you use your Persona ability, you must channel your inner strength." Minato began to pay a bit more attention. This seemed important.

"The ability evolves as you develop your Social Links-your emotional ties with other." Minato's face began to develop a disbelieving expression, and he seemed clearly mortified by what he was hearing. "The stronger your Social Links, the more powerful your Persona ability. Please remember that."

Minato's response was spoken slowly, in a rather sarcastic tone. "... So, what you're saying is...

My ability runs off of FRIENDSHIP?" Igor's nod did nothing to improve Minato's response, and the teen began to make dramatic hand gestures, as if to notify the old man and the lady in blue of his displeasure. "Seriously? You're kidding, right? What kind of stupid-magical-girl-anime-bullshit is this?" Minato, throughout his life, had never liked people. His relatives had either pushed him away or died. He had never made friends easily, and attempted to keep people away with his 'emo' haircut and rather rude attitude. The idea of being forced to make friends in order to maintain this power didn't sit well with him. He groaned. There was always a catch in the shows, too.

Igor only grinned at Minato's dissatisfaction. "I suppose, in a way, you are right." And then, steering the conversation away from that subject entirely, Igor began to say his farewells. "Now then... Time marches on in your world. I shouldn't keep you here any longer." He proceeded to completely ignore any of Minato's rushed questions as to what was going on and demands to 'hold the hell up you crazy old man' as he continued. "Next time we meet, you will come here of your own accord. Until then... farewell."

Minato's vision blacked out, interrupting a very colorful curse word.

* * *

Waking up in a hospital was never pleasant. They tended to smell like... hospitals, the beds were never soft enough, the blankets were never warm enough, and occasionally you woke up with crazy gun women next to you. Granted, your position in bed granted you a perfect view of their legs, but that was little comfort. Minato groaned as he attempted to sit up, pushing himself up by his forearms. He was wearing one of those goddamn hospital robes that were usually made out of paper or something. His muscles yelled at him, but he managed to prop himself up against the wall his bed was placed in front of. He wondered how long he had been sleeping. If it had been a long time, maybe now he would have caught up on his constant lack of sleep. Yukari had already noticed him, and made a face that was equal parts relief and vague disappointment. "Oh. You're awake.

... So, uh, how are you feeling?"

Minato popped his shoulder, prompting a grossed-out face from the female in the room. "I feel like I was just attacked by a monster, controlled by a force that was way more than I can handle, and moving is vaguely difficult. But other than that, I'm fine. Really." Yukari seemed unamused by Minato's sense of humor, but she was at least vaguely relieved that he was still his old, jerkass self.

"Well, at least you finally came to." She sighed. "How much sleep do you need, anyway? You were asleep for a whole week!" She then whispered, as though she didn't want him to hear, "... I was even kind of worried..." Minato snorted. Her attempts at secrecy were mediocre at best.

"I'm fine without your help, crazy gun woman." Her fists clenched and her face turned slightly red, and Yukari seemed to be ready to lay a verbal smackdown on Minato, and probably would have done so if he hadn't interrupted her. "So, where am I and why are you here, anyway?"

Yukari took a deep breath, Minato being immensely amused by her annoyed state. Now somewhat calmed down, she answered his questions. "This is Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. It's just a short walk from the station. And..." She hesitated before stating why she was even here. "... You saved my life." Minato blinked.

"Oh. Right. I guess I did."

She rolled her eyes, starting to speak with a more clinical tone. "The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with you. He said you were just exhausted." Minato did not feel exhausted whatsoever anymore. It was a wonder what a week of sleep did for you. His neck did feel funny though, so he rolled his face around, causing popping noises to come from it. This was probably screwing up something in there. He did not particularly care, since it grossed out Yukari and he found this _fantastic. _"You just kept sleeping and sleeping. I was... wondering when you would wake up." She didn't seem to want to admit that she was worried, probably since she didn't want to give off the wrong impression to a guy like Minato.

"Whatever. I'm awake now, aren't I?" He didn't particularly give much of a damn about what she thought, and started to ask some questions. Igor had decided to let him go before he had a chance to ask any of these questions, so they would now be redirected towards Yukari. "So what the hell happened that night?"

Thankfully, for once Minato got a straight answer. "Those creatures that attacked the dorm are called 'shadows.' The power you used to fight them... we call it 'persona.'" Minato frowned, though not out of concentration or anything. It was more that he was vaguely frustrated that she was just telling him things that she already said or that Igor has already told him. He did learn a bit of nice terminology next, however. "The gun you used, the Evoker, creates a belt when you shoot it at your forehead. If you clip the Evoker onto the belt, which we call the SEES driver, and scan your persona card onto it..." She held her hand out, and a card appeared in it.

_"There are other riders." _Minato blinked. _"Of course there are other riders. There are ALWAYS other riders." _Of course, he had vaguely hoped that crazy gun woman wasn't one of the other riders, but that hope seemed to be shattered.

"... You can transform into what is, essentially, a Kamen Rider." She sighed. "I don't know why they based our powers on a children's show either, but I have to admit..." She pulled her hand away, causing the card to disappear. "It is effective. In any case, we'll give you all the details later." Her face grew a bit softer, and Minato was instantly wary. She wasn't about to go all dramatic-friendship bullshit on him, right?

"And... uh... I just wanted to tell you that... I'm sorta like you."

_"Goddamnit."_

"My dad died in an accident when I was little... And my mom and I aren't exactly on good terms... You're all alone too, right? To be honest, I already know about your past... But, it didn't seem fair, so I wanted you to know about mine... It was back in '99... There was a big explosion in the area. Supposedly, my dad died in the blast, but nobody really knows what happ - "

"Would you shut up?"

Yukari looked up at him, her face equal parts shock and indignation. Minato seemed to ignore it, getting more annoyed as he continued. "Christ, don't tell me your freaking life story! Do you really think I care at all? Do you pour your sob story onto everyone you know when they're in the hospital?" He turned his head away from her, crossing his arms with a sigh. "Crazy gun woman..."

A strange noise that sounded like breaking glass played in Minato's mind.

According to the voice in his head, he had just reversed Yukari's social link. Her reaction seemed to confirm this.

Her face was red and she was standing up angrily by the time Minato looked over. "Is this how you act to everyone? Or just me? I can't believe you, being so direct... I thought you, of all people, would understand!" She stormed out of the room, leaving Minato sitting in his bed, alone.

And he didn't care in the slightest.

* * *

Since he was completely alright, the hospital allowed him to leave that day, and he returned to the dorm. He received a dirty look from Yukari, who was sitting on the couch, the moment he came in, but he just ignored her. He was about to head up to his room, when he realized he wasn't sleepy whatsoever. Still, he didn't want to be downstairs with Yukari, and there wasn't much else he could do. He attempted to watch television, but there was nothing on except a special on a new disease. "Apathy Syndrome" or something. Nothing interesting on.

The obvious answer, of course, was to watch children's television.

Watching the boxed set of Kamen Rider Blade that he had was completely justified in his head. After all, he was supposed to do this kind of thing now, right? He might as well learn from the expert: Kazuma goddamn Kenzaki. He had set down a bottle of water to drink as he watched the masked hero fight the undead, although he didn't drink much of it.

Time passed swiftly as Minato stared, absorbed into the screen, and it became that-time-where-people-become-coffins before he knew it. To his great disappointment, the TV shut off, removing him from his children's programming. His frantic attempts to turn it back on were met with minimal results. It was around that time he also realized that his water bottle had been converted into a bottle of blood. After his initial, freaked out reaction of backing the hell away from the bottle, he decided to assume that this was probably just another one of the effects of this time. Slightly curious as to what happens to actual blood, he pulled out his pocketknife and cut a small gash onto his finger, allowing a drip of it to plop onto the table.

It was still blood. "Go figure?"

Continuing his train of thought, water would probably turn back into water when this time ended. Otherwise, the world would no longer have water, only blood, probably removing the need for any blood drives in the future whatsoever. Because, you know, everyone would be dead from lack of water. So they wouldn't need blood drives.

Well, if he mixed his blood with the blood in the bottle, what would happen? He opened the cap of the bottle, recoiling slightly from the foul taste of blood, and shook his cut finger to prod a drop of blood to drip into the bottle.

After an exceptionally dull hour, most of the blood in the bottle turned back into water. _Most. _There was a small droplet of blood, drifting on the surface of the water and spreading itself throughout the clear liquid. "That's... interesting.

... Aw, shit.

Now I'm thirsty."

* * *

After a very long, dry night, Minato eventually woke up from a very short sleep. He went through the basic routine of putting on his clothes and generally getting ready for school. The process felt rather foreign to him, probably since he hadn't done it for a week. Of course, mentally, he had really only done it just a day before, since he had been unconscious that week. Did that week still affect his mental readiness even though he had been unconscious? Or was he just having difficulty getting ready for school because he had never really done it? Perhaps he actually just had this foreign feeling while getting ready for school last time, too? He couldn't quite remember. Maybe it was because a week had passed since he had last done it.

In any case, he eventually ended up at the school gates, just like before. Yukari was there as well, but she didn't seem to notice him (or at least pretended not to) as she walked to school. Minato, not altogether wanting to talk to any crazy gun women for the moment, decided to do likewise.

He absolutely could not concentrate during the schoolday, and thusly sort of spaced out when the history teacher, Mr. Ono, began to talk about cavemen. Thoughts of shadows, personae, and kamen riders ran through his head, leaving him completely unprepared when Junpei asked him for the answer to the teacher's question.

"... Tell me, Minato! What's the answer?"

Minato snorted, making his response loud and easily heard, removing all subtlety from their previously quiet exchange. "Oy, why don't you just pay more attention in class?"

The teacher didn't seem to appreciate this, and looked at Minato. "Then why don't you answer this question, Minato-kun?" Minato cursed silently under his breath. He didn't know either. From what he vaguely remembered of the teacher's lecture, he noted that Mr. Ono didn't seem to care much about this period. His only option, other than saying he didn't know like an idiot, was to take a risk.

"Do you _really_ care at all, Mr. Ono?"

The teacher sighed. "No... I guess you guys care even less about the Stone Age than I do. Well, it'll all be fine once we hit the age of katanas."

Minato began to hear whispers about how cool he was circulate around the classroom. His palm gave a very healthy greeting to his face.

* * *

During school, he absolutely refused to talk to anyone. Those social links could go screw themselves. As such, he returned to the dorm immediately after school, and found a rather unpleasant surprise waiting for him in the dorm. The trip to enter the dorm was a rather tedious one, however: first, he had to walk to the dorm. Then, he had to go up to the door. Then he had to turn the doorknob and open the door. Then he had to knock over whatever it was that was blocking the door from opening fully. Of course, once he entered the dorm, he realized that that unfortunate object had been Junpei.

Whoops.

Minato entered the room, looking at Junpei, who was on the floor, with an eyebrow raised. "Don't stand in front of the door." Ignoring Junpei's frantic and indignant responses, Minato noted the luggage that the lanky teen had brought with him. His heart sank. Was Junpei moving in? He already had crazy gun woman to deal with, so he didn't need any other schoolmates in the dorm. Mitsuru was bearable, and that one gray-haired guy... well, Minato hadn't really seen him around, which was a good sign, at least to Minato. But Yukari AND Junpei in the dorm? Next, he would be told that he would have to lead them in battle against the shadows or something.

Minato waved off Junpei. "Alright, alright. Sorry. Geez." He gestured towards the luggage. "Don't tell me you're going to be living here?" The gray haired guy, who Minato hadn't noticed before, answered the question.

"I bumped into him the other night. he has the potential, but he just awakened to it recently... I told him about us, and he agreed to help." Yukari seemed as welcoming to the news as Minato was. He shivered at the thought of agreeing with her. Being on the same side as crazy gun women was not high on his priority list. Crazy gun woman looked at Junpei, incredulous.

"YOU have the potential? For real?"

Junpei laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "He found me cryin' like a baby at the convenience store, surrounded by a bunch of coffins. I don't remember much, but... man, that's embarrassing! He said that's, ya know, completely normal... in the beginning. Like, bein' confused and not remembering anything. Did ya guys know that?" Minato thought back to his first reaction to the dark hour, which hadn't really been too long ago. He had freaked out, run to the dorm, shaken a small child, and ran off to his room when he met Yukari and Mitsuru, rather freaked out.

"I dealt with it fine. You're probably just weird." Before anyone could say anything, Minato looked at Akihiko and posed a question. "So what's this 'potential' thing, anyway?"

"The potential to be in the dark hour."

Some guy wearing a coat and glasses walked into the room, his arms folded behind his back. "I'm Shuji Ikutsuki, the chairman of SEES." He held out his hand to shake, which Minato took hesitantly. "And this..." Ikutsuki motioned towards the guy in the red vest. "This is Akihiko, if you two haven't met already. Now then..." Everyone in the room went to go sit on the couches in the room, with Ikutsuki sitting at the front. Apparently, they were about to get a lot of exposition tossed at them, which Minato greatly appreciated. Ikutsuki coughed. "Now then. Minato-kun. Junpei-kun. Would you believe me if I told you a day lasted more than 24 hours?"

Minato raised an eyebrow, answering before Junpei could. "... Yeah, it _did _just happen to me last night, as well as a week ago." He continued, interrupting both Ikutsuki and Mitsuru. "That's the thing where the sky turns green and water turns into blood, right? People turn into coffins, shadows appear and attack people, etc?" Ikutsuki was rather surprised and put off by Minato's prior knowledge, but he nodded.

"Correct. We call that time 'the dark hour.'" Akihiko then interjected, noting that Shadows attacked people in the coffins, making it their job to stop them. As Mitsuru and Akihiko bickered about the latter's enthusiasm about the job even though he was injured, Minato's jaw dropped. They seriously named it the _dark hour? _Before Minato could make a sarcastic comment, Ikutsuki either noticed or had extraordinary timing, and interrupted him. " Long story short, we're the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad-SEES for short. On paper, we're classified as a school club. But in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the Shadows. Mitsuru is the leader. I'm the club advisor."

Mitsuru took her seemingly rehearsed cue. "A Shadow feeds on the mind of its prey; the victim becomes a living corpse. They're responsible for most of the incidents on the news, if not all of them." Minato nodded, putting his rude comments off to the side for a while.

"That's the apathy syndrome thing, right?" Mitsuru nodded, confirming his thoughts. Minato frowned. "I guess that the police or anyone else can't really do anything, since most of them can't function during the dark hour." Ikutsuki looked surprised.

"Very observant. Only a few people who have the "potential" can operate during the dark hour. Some of them may even awaken to the power of persona, like you did a week ago. Only those with the power of Persona can transform and defeat the shadows. In other words, it's all up to you guys." While Ikutsuki was speaking, Mitsuru was fishing a briefcase out from behind the sofa. So they HAD planned this out! Minato wasn't sure whether to not care or be slightly unnerved by this. Junpei, on the other hand, had just been watching in shock the entire time, sucking in all the details. He was probably in awe that his life was becoming a children's television's show. To be completely honest, Minato didn't blame him.

"What he's trying to say is," Mitsuru said, opening the case. "We want you two to join us." Inside the case were two guns, emblazoned with the SEES emblem. They looked much like the guns Yukari had had on that one night. "We've prepared evokers for the both of you. We'd like you to lend us your strength."

Ignoring Junpei's enthusiastic agreement to help, Minato thought. This was dangerous. But he couldn't just leave this alone. Plus, being a Kamen Rider was cool. He had also signed a contract, which he was pretty sure had _something _to do with this, so he didn't seem to have much choice in the matter. Realizing that everyone's eyes were on him, Minato cleared his throat. "You all heard my answer that night on the roof." Except for Junpei. "I'm used to all this inane crap happening at this point, and I'm not going to let these shadows get me, or anyone else for that matter." He reached over and picked up an evoker, spinning it around his finger. For a gun that shot no bullets, it had a nice weight. "I'm in."

The room seemed to give a collective sigh of relief. Ikutsuki smiled. "Thank you so much. I'm really glad." He coughed. "Now then. Previously, we only had two persona users, Mitsuru and Akihiko. But, since that number has recently jumped to five..." He looked at Minato and Junpei, slightly anxious. "Do you think you two are up for some combat experience, tonight?"

"H-hell yeah!" Junpei didn't seem as thrilled at the idea of actual danger.

Minato shrugged. He wasn't doing anything else tonight. Plus, he wanted to play around with this power more. "Sure."

Mitsuru looked at the chairman sharply. "Already? Are you sure they're up for it?" Ikutsuki smiled, gesturing to the two new members of SEES.

"They certainly look up for the challenge." The chairman pushed the glasses up on his face. "Therefore... starting tonight at 12:00 A.M., I'd like to commence the exploration of Tartarus." Minato had absolutely no idea what tartarus was. The only thing that came to mind was tartar sauce, and he didn't even have know what that tasted like. He only knew the name. Junpei made a comment about it sounding like toothpaste, which was also a valid comparison.

"So uh... What's this Tartarus thing, again?" This was also a valid question. Minato inwardly commented on Junpei being more competent than he seemed today.

Considering that it was a competent question, Yukari's answer was not as competent. "You haven't seen it, Junpei?"

"... He just asked what it was." Minato's voice did not drip sarcasm, but instead fired it rapidly in all directions. "Of course he's seen it. Isn't it obvious?" Yukari scowled at him, muttering an apology that sounded none to apologetic, and Ikutsuki decided to break the slight awkward silence that resulted from Minato's comments.

"It's no surprise that he hasn't seen it... After all, it only appears during the dark hour." Akihiko nodded, expanding on what Ikutsuki said.

"Just like the Shadows... Interesting, huh? And it's the perfect place for us to train. You can think of it as a Shadow nest." Junpei seemed excited and intimidated by this idea, but Yukari looked at Akihiko.

"But, Senpai... What about your injury?"

"Since Akihiko hasn't fully recovered yet, he'll only go as far as the entrance." Mitsuru explained. Akihiko sighed.

"... Yeah, I know."

"Well, I'm sure he won't complain, as long as you don't go too far in. Since we're dealing with Shadows, Tartarus isn't something we can avoid." Minato, at this point, was not paying especially large amounts of attention, mostly psyching himself up for the exploration of Tartarus.

* * *

And, before he knew it, they were there. 'There' being the school. Minato's mouth was opened and he gestured vaguely towards the building. "... Why?"Gekkoukan high school was not Tartarus. If it was, there would be signs of shadows appearing inside its halls. Dents, ripped up papers, broken furniture, anything. Someone would, eventually, notice. Even if they couldn't access the dark hour, the damage done by the shadows would be rather blatantly obvious. There was no way their school was 'Tartarus.' If it was, why would they rename it? Why not just call it by its name?

"This makes no sense."

Junpei seemed to agree with Minato's sentiments. "This is it? THIS is the place? Why HERE?"

"No sense at all."

Akihiko looked at his watch. "Just wait a few moments... It's almost midnight."

"No sense whatsoever..."

The clock struck 12.

And then the school turned into a giant tower.

"... That makes even LESS sense!"

* * *

After a brief conversation outside that Minato absolutely refused to take part in, only gawking silently at the giant tower that had previously been their school, SEES headed inside the tower. The inside was no less ridiculous, with a large staircase leading up to an enormous _clock, _what looked like a dance-dance-revolution pad, something Minato couldn't even figure out what it was, and a bunch of angsty teenagers. There was also a motercycle, of all things, in the middle of the lobby, leaning against one of the many pillars. Ignoring the others' comments about Tartarus, Minato looked at Mitsuru. "What's with the motercycle? Technology doesn't work during the dark hour, right?"

"That motorcycle has been modified to work in the dark hour. It also - "

"Do I get one?"

"In time."

He couldn't be a Kamen Rider without a motercycle, after all. Minato noticed Akihiko talking to Junpei and Yukari and, since he was also new to this whole 'persona' thing, he figured he should probably listen as well. "First, we'll have you three get a feel for this place. Why don't you have a look around?" Minato nodded. He was up for some more practice with the suit. Crazy gun woman, on the other hand, seemed less enthusastic.

"What? By ourselves?" Minato snorted. Of course they were going to bring along the guy with the broken arm and the girl who... Minato briefly wondered why Mitsuru wasn't coming for a moment, at least until she answered.

"We're not asking you to go very far, and I'll be feeding you information from here." It made sense, after all, to have someone more experienced keep track of them. Although the idea of 'not going very far' today annoyed Minato. He would have to rectify this.

Junpei looked at Akihiko. "So, you two didn't plan on coming in the first place?" Something in Minato's peripheral vision caught his eye.

Akihiko responded, saying, "That's right." It seemed to be a door of some kind. "We're also going to appoint a leader to make any necessary decisions." It was blue. A very certain shade of blue, much like the Velvet Room.

"For real? ... One of us? Oh! Oh! Me me me! Pick me!" To the rest of them, Minato seemed to be staring off into the distance, purposely ignoring Junpei's childish outburst. To him, however, he was staring at the completely random door that didn't seem to lead to anything in the middle of the lobby that no one else was noticing, somehow.

Akihiko looked at Minato. "You're in charge."

Minato blinked. He looked at Akihiko, a slightly perturbed look on his face. "Wait, what?" The others didn't seem to agree with the decision.

"W-Wait! Why him? He doesn't look like a leader!"

Yukari agreed with Junpei. "I mean sure, he's already fought them before, but he sure doesn't act like a leader!" Akihiko seemed to get slightly annoyed with their disagreement.

"He's fought them before, and that's one reason. But there's another..." He pulled out his evoker with his good arm, pointing it at his head. Even if they knew it wasn't a real gun, the sight was still quite a shock to Yukari and Junpei, and caused them to take a step back. Akihiko nodded. "Can you two use the evoker without any difficulties, like he can?" Yukari and Junpei hesitated a while before answering, and Minato only stood there, somewhat amused. He didn't mind being leader, as he didn't think either of the other two would be very good at it, and the idea of being led by crazy gun woman was not appealing.

"Y-Yeah, of course I can!"

"I think so."

Neither answer was very confident. Akihiko put the evoker back in its holster, and vaguely flopped his broken arm. "These are shadows you're talking about here." Junpei and Yukari's eyes were drawn towards the boxing champ's cast, and the slightly foreign idea of actually being injured by the shadows entered their minds. "If you can't henshin, you're screwed." Yukari gulped.

"I'm aware of that." Minato was once again distracted by the door, and as everyone moved to go up the stairs, he decided to go up to it. Ignoring everyone else's questioning remarks, he looked the door over. It was a door. It was blue. It was also glowing. And apparently, no one else could see it. He sighed.

It was about as normal as everything else that was happening.

A sudden weight in his pocket caught his attention. Reaching in, Minato felt the velvet key that he could have sworn he tossed at the wall a few days ago. Glancing at it, he could see that it was glowing. With a sigh, accepting that this was really happening, he walked into the door.

* * *

"I've been waiting for you."

"Aw christ. This again."

The Velvet room was as uncomfortably cold as ever, and the chair was still hard and not fun to sit in. Igor was still there, smiling that creepy smile in that creepy posture with that creepy nose. Elizabeth was as vaguely attractive as ever. Everything was normal in the decided not normal room. Igor's grin widened even further. "The time has come for you to wield your power. The tower that you are about to venture into... How did it come to be? For what purpose does it exist?" Minato groaned. This guy was slightly less purple than an eggplant. "Regrettably, you are not yet capable of answering these questions. That is why you must be made aware of the nature of our power." That made Minato curious. Was his power different than the others' power?

"... The nature of my power?"

"Your power is unique. It's like the number zero... It's empt - " Minato groaned again.

"Look, are you just going to spout a bunch of cryptic bullshit?"

Igor only kept that inane grin on his face.

"... Yeah okay, I'm leaving." Minato got up to leave, only stopping once he heard Igor's response.

"Just know this one thing... You, my boy, are able to possess multiple personas, and use them as needed." Minato turned around.

"Wait, seriously?"

Igor nodded. "When you have defeated your enemies, you will see the faces of possibility before you. There maybe times when they are difficult to grasp... But, do not fear. Seize what you have earned. Your power will - "

Minato groaned. This guy _really _liked the sound of his own voice. "Bye, old man."

* * *

After an incredibly awkward conversation, ("You don't see the door? Are you all BLIND?") Minato, Yukari, and Junpei were all on the first floor of Tartarus. Minato had been given a short sword, while Yukari had a bow from the archery club and a quiver of arrows to match. Junpei had a much larger sword that Minato's, making him feel vaguely inadequate. A quick mental joke about overcompensation fixed this. It looked vaguely like the school, which sort of made sense, considering that it was made from the school. Which had then transformed into a giant tower. Tossing away the thought of even attempting to think about how that makes sense, Minato adjusted the communicator Mitsuru had given to them before they came in. Almost as if on cue, her voice crackled into his ear. _"Can you all hear me?"_

Minato nodded, although he felt rather silly doing so, since she couldn't actually see him. "Loud and clear."

Junpei looked around, in awe of basic radio communication. "Is that you, senpai?"

_"I'll be providing audio backup from here on out."_

A bit of fridge logic hit Minato. Wouldn't audio support be slightly useless, since she couldn't actually see what was going on? Considering that she wasn't there with them, there was no way she could see inside here, unless they had video cameras in here or something, and he saw no video cameras. Junpei came to the least likely conclusion, of course. "Wait... Ya mean, you can see inside here?" There was no way, in Minato's mind, that she could see inside Tartarus if she wasn't there. Junpei was probably just being stupid, like usual.

_"It's my persona's ability." _Or maybe he was actually right. He really should have seen that coming. _"I'd like to join you, but the structure of Tartarus changes from day to day. That's why outside support is imperative."_

Yukari sighed. "Well, THAT makes me feel a whole lot better."

_"Now, based on your current location, you can expect to encounter enemies at any minute." _Although the other two visibily tensed up at this, Minato only cracked his knuckles. _"They shouldn't be too tough, but proceed with caution. Practice makes perfect." _

The idea of the shadows on this floor being weak calmed the other two down a bit. Junpei gave an enthusiastic, "Right!"

Yukari was less enthusiastic. "Got it." She then whispered to herself, even though everyone else could hear, "Why is she always like that...?"

Minato snorted. "Like what?" Yukari glared at him.

"Nothing."

Mitsuru seemed to ignore them as she continued. _"Let's begin. Keep in mind, these are real battles you'll be engaging in. Now, transform and see if you can eliminate all the shadows wandering around on this floor."_

Minato pulled the evoker out of the holster he had put on, pointing it at his head with his left hand. He said, "Got it." and fired. The blue glass appeared again, spinning around him before forming the red and silver belt around his waist. As blue pillars of energy swirled around him, he pushed the evoker into its slot on the front of the belt, sliding it in with a satisfying click while moving his left arm to his right hip. At the same time, he brought his right arm up to his left shoulder, Orpheus' card appearing between his thumb and pointer finger. He looked forward, giving a quick nod towards absolutely nothing.

"Henshin!"

He slid the card through the slit on top of the evoker, moving his arms out to his sides with fists clenched. The belt spoke with that same, organic yet synthesized voice.

**_"ORPHEUS FORM."_**

The columns of blue light spun even faster, joining together into a single tornado of blue fire that surrounded Minato as the armor from a week ago clasped itself onto his body once more. He felt that same, familiar power embed itself into his body, as he felt his strength increase a hundredfold, possibly more. How riders had seen through the compound eyes on their masks was something Minato had always wondered, but his vision was, somehow, completely unimpaired; it was as though he wasn't wearing the mask at all. When the blue tornado of flames cleared, a small explosion of hot air blasted outwards from his body, and the red eyepieces glew for a brief moment. Minato brought his arms back to a more natural position, noticing that he was still holding his sword. Flexing his arm experimentally, he noticed that his movement didn't seem to be hampered by the suit. If anything, it had been improved.

He looked behind him, where Yukari and Junpei, still not transformed, appeared to be staring in slight awe. If he could have, Minato would have raised an eyebrow, but the subtle gesture would have been lost due to the mask, so he decided to go with an annoyed, "What are you guys waiting for?" They both snapped out of it, although their reactions were slightly different: although Junpei nodded frantically and fiddled with his evoker in an attempt to get it out of its holster, Yukari looked at him for a moment with a look of skepticism and dislike before proceeding to slowly pull her evoker of her own holster. Eventually, both had the evokers placed against their heads, and fired the trigger. Belts appeared on their waists in a swirl of glass shards, although instead of pillars of energy moving around them, Yukari had three small, green tornados, while Junpei had burning columns of flame.

Yukari, boringly enough, merely placed the evoker onto her belt and brought her hand up near her face. The card appeared in it. Minato couldn't actually see what was on it, but he assumed it was something else cryptic with a picture of some weird creature on it. Although he didn't expect her to, Yukari actually said, "Henshin," before proceeding to slide her card across the top of her evoker.

**_"IO FORM."_**

The green tornados swirled around her, and a suit, similar to Minato's, appeared on her, although intially covered by the enormous tunnel of wind. Once it dissipated, it could be seen that her armor was similar in structure to Minato's, with various differences in armor composition to appear more feminine, including rounded shoulder pads and a modified chest piece to avoid squishing her _lungs,_ and the primary colors were pink and white, with black highlights. The most striking black colored portion of it was the face, which was black with pink compound eyes, and a headpiece that looked rather like long blonde hair. On her right forearm seemed to be a highly stylized skull of a cow, painted black and white, with enormous horns the size of her bow.

Junpei, in stark contrast to Yukari, dramatically slammed the evoker onto the belt in a completely over the top fashion, (Minato hoped that he hadn't somehow damaged the evoker in doing so.) and raised his other hand in the air. A card appeared in it, emblazoned with images similar to the other two, and he gave a triumphant grin, shouting, "Henshin!" before pulling his hand back down and sliding the card across the evoker. As he assumed a fighting stance, his belt, much like the others, spoke.

**_"HERMES FORM."_**

Instead of merely surrounding him, the pillars of fire joining together around Junpei seemed to actually set him aflame. _Almost _worried for a second, Minato soon realized that the flames were forming into the rider suit, as they became more opaque and formed a definite silhouette of a Kamen Rider behind the flames. The columns of fire disappearing, it was apparent that the rider suits seemed to share the same base body, although with many modifications to keep them visually unique. Junpei's had the same regular armor as Minato, although it was mainly black. The design would have been fairly simple and plain if it weren't for orange segments bringing out the black to make a rather subtle design. His mask was silver, with yellow compound eyes and an orange helmet with rather large wings on the sides. His boots were, noticeably, very large and very metallic. Long, golden, wing-like structures ran across the back of his forearms, and seemed rather sharp.

Both new riders were still holding their weapons, which now seemed fairly plain in comparison. Minato's gripes about weapon appearance aside, he was now in a group of three riders and they were about to go.

As the appointed leader, Minato took it upon himself to lead. With a quick hand motion and a, "Let's go," the group commenced the first exploration of Tartarus.

* * *

Tartarus, as it turned out, would be rather disappointing. After a bit of scenery admiration, the group ran across its first group of shadows. There were three of them, and each person in the group got one to themselves. The shadows seemed to be, essentially, miniature versions of the shadow Minato had fought on the roof, but with no swords. _"Those are Cowardly Mayas." _Their support, as always, told completely relevent and useful information. _"Would you like any tips on the basics of battle?"_

Before he could answer with any sarcastic comment, Minato was forced to block a flailing arm with his sword. Conveniently, this ended up cutting off the arm. As he was in the process of shadow mutilation, he stumbled across a legitimate question. "I don't suppose we have any crazy rider abilities?"

Her answer was _very_ exciting. _"Actually, yes. Arisato, your main element is fire, correct?"_

A quick mental check (he somehow just _knew _these things) confirmed her question. "Yep."

_"Think about your sword being set aflame."_

_"Oh shit. Is she joking?" _And then his sword was on fire.

"... Hell. Yes."

The shadow's mask soon found a flaming sword coming right at it, and it had no time to escape. The weapon pierced through the mask, and the fire caused burns and various other flame based damage before the shadow burst into spheres of darkness, melting into the floor. As his own shadow was defeated, Minato looked up at the others. Yukari had been defeating her shadow with an arrow enhanced with wind magic, (It could really only be cooler if the wind was acting like a drill.) and Junpei had grabbed his shadow with a flaming fist and tossed it at a wall. All of them were defeated rather easily. It was actually fairly anticlimactic, in Minato's mind, for their first real fight as a group.

Junpei, underneath his mask, grinned like an idiot. "It looks like they couldn't...

Stand the he - "

After Junpei recovered from the physical trauma, the group continued on.

* * *

_"That's good for now. Let's head back to the dorm for the day."_

Minato frowned. Already? They had barely been here for ten minutes. Sure, the dark hour was only an hour, but that was still a good fifty minutes of experience. "Hold on, already? We could keep going for a while."

Mitsuru didn't seem to agree. _"That's an order, Arisato. Get down here."_

Although Yukari and Junpei seemed ready to leave, Minato certainly was not. He hadn't stayed up this late and entered this crazy tower to fight shadows about twice and then just leave. "Man, already? I don't know about you guys," He could hear chains in the background. Some more shadows? Could serve as a decent excuse to leave earlier. "but I don't really feel like leaving quite yet." The sound of jingling chains was getting louder, signifying that whatever was holding them was probably real, not just their ears playing tricks, and that it was getting closer. Mitsuru seemed ready to retort to Minato's response, but she seemed to hear the chains as well. The gasp she let out was rather worrying, but whatever was carrying the chains couldn't be _too _

_"... I have a bad feeling about this... !" _And _then _what was carrying the chains appeared. A tall, malevolent figure, wrapped in a black cloak with no visible legs to speak of, stood in front of them. Chains, seemingly floating in the air around its torso, were the origin of the noise that heralded the creature's arrival, and gloved fingers held two enormously long revolvers. Minato did not even get to looking at its face until Mitsuru interrupted.

_"RUN!"_

He didn't need to be told twice. The trio ran, the creature in hot pursuit. _"There's a teleporter in the hallway to your left! Use that to escape!" _Although how exactly there were _teleporters _of all things in Tartarus, Minato didn't particularly care at the moment. Other than the fact that riders were often beaten down by an incredibly intimidating villain early on, this thing just exuded terrifying power. It felt as though he was being crushed from its sheer presence. The combination of its aesthetics, the buildup to its entrance, and Mitsuru's reaction made it something he did _not _want to face in battle at the moment.

The teleporter came into view quickly, and the three all jumped onto it at once. The creature, seeming to sense its prey escaping, peeled off a quick shot using one of the revolvers it held. The bullet barely managed to miss the three riders, but instead struck the teleporter, causing many of the lights on it to begin flashing rapidly. Minato winced. This wasn't good. "Oy, what's going on, Mitsuru?"

_"He's damaged the teleporter! It may not work as - "_

Green light surrounded the trio, and they disappeared.

* * *

They ended up on a completely different floor, standing atop a different teleporter. Minato blinked. Teleporting felt... weird? What if he had been destroyed and then recreated? One Minato's life would have ended, leaving him dead with a new one on earth. What if when he went to heaven, if it existed, there were dozens of dead Minatos from his teleporting antics?

These thoughts were, of course, insignificant when compared to the fact that they had not died a death via revolvers. Everyone was breathing heavily, despite not truly running that far. It was mostly the fear that had done it to them. They had these magnificent powers, sure, but they were meddling in something far greater than they were. The cowardly mayas had only been the first type of enemy they encountered. In the future, it was likely that more powerful shadows would pop up that they couldn't defeat in one hit. "... I think we're safe?"

Right then, for instance, acted as a perfect example.

An enormous _bird man, _of all things, appeared of nowhere, silently running at them from the other side of the room. Black, metallic feathers covered its body, with wings replacing arms. It still had human-like robot arms and a bird head, and was carrying a lantern in its mouth. To see a creature charging at them, making no noise but with a sure intent to kill, or at least injure, was rather unnerving. The riders barely got out of the way of a slash of the sharp, sword like wings. The teleporter on this floor proceeded to explode, removing their easy way out and knocking them back several feet, as well as creating a rather large hole in the floor. Yukari and Junpei were at the back end of the room, near what seemed to be stairs, while Minato was quite a ways in front of them, with the new shadow in between them.

_"That's a Venus Eagle! You don't have the means to fight it right now!"_

Minato, deciding stupidly to pay absolutely no attention, charged in anyway, aiming a flaming punch at the eagle's chest. The eagle made no attempt to dodge, allowing it to connect. However, it did not stumble backwards or show any outward reaction to the pain, which was rather worrying. It slashed with both wings, on after the other. Although Minato managed to block one, the other hit connected with his right shoulder, sending him stumbling backwards a couple of steps in an explosion of sparks where the wing contacted his armor. _"It's resistant to fire and wind! Your attacks won't work!"_

Grasping his smoking shoulderpad, Minato looked at Junpei and Yukari. He and Junpei used fire. Yukari used wind.

"... Great. Looks like we've got no choice..." Entering a fighting stance, he formulated a quick strategy. "Junpei! Crazy gun woman! You two escape first, I'll distract it and join you guys later!" The Venus Eagle stepped forward, using an overhead slash with both wings. Minato blocked the two wings, and began to pivot, causing the weapon-locked duo to spin around, so that Minato was now where the Shadow had previously been standing. Yukari and Junpei hadn't quite left yet. Yukari hated him, but she didn't want him to die, and neither did Junpei.

"But...!"

_"Arisato, are you s - "_

"No buts! I've got a plan!" The two seemed to hesitantly accept this, and headed quickly down the stairs. Minato looked back at the eagle. Before he could attempt to kick it away, the Shadow took advantage of his momentary distraction to speak with his friends to do so before he could, aiming a straight forward kick towards the rider's stomach. The kick was incredibly powerful and set Minato sprawling back from the sheer force of it. He landed near the smoking remains of the teleporter, struggling to get to his feet.

_"This plan of yours better be good, Arisato..."_

"It is."

Minato managed to get to his feet, prompting the Venus Eagle to begin running at him. He looked behind himself, backing away rather slowly.

"It's called _running the fuck away."_

And then he jumped through the hole in the floor.

* * *

The timing coincided, and he managed to land right as Yukari and Junpei were running past him, and he began to flee right along side him. Junpei looked at him, panting. "Wh-what happened to holding him off?"

Minato shrugged as he ran, but his answer was interrupted by a rather displeasing sight: shadows. Many of them. More Mayas, large tiaras attached to masks, floating hands, floating humanoid esque creatures with bows; dozens of all of them stood in their way. It seemed as though they had climbed floors a bit too fast. Mitsuru agreed, gasping. _"Cowardly Mayas, Muttering Tiaras, Magic hands, even Obsessed Cupids..." _The three riders stopped, looking at the mass of shadows in the incredibly long hallway in front of them. They could see the stairs at the end, but the shadows were blocking it. They could go back and attempt to find another path, but that plan was promptly ruined by the Venus Eagle dropping down from the hole in the ground.

_"You're going to have to fight through all of them!"_

Minato assumed a fighting stance, sword in hand. The others followed.

"Fine with me."

Before the shadows had even begun to run forward, Minato had reached the forefront of their group. Grabbing a cowardly maya by the mask, he proceeded to set it aflame, smashing it into a magic hand that was about to hit him with a spell. He ended up hitting various other shadows in the impact, sending several muttering tiaras backwards. The maya disappeared, having already sustained too much damage, so he held up his sword and ran at the closest shadow, one of the muttering tiaras that he had just knocked back, and began to slash it repeatedly, his sword catching fire at some point during the process. Once that shadow disappeared, he immediately turned around, sending a spinning kick into the face of the obsessed cupid that was about to send an arrow into him. The kick continued on, hitting another magic hand and ending with his foot landing on a cowardly maya, shattering its mask. He used to momentum of the kick to stab forward, impaling a muttering tiara on his sword. A variety of blows hit his back, causing sparks to fly, but he merely turned around and began to attack the shadows behind him.

At this point, Yukari and Junpei had managed to reach the shadows as well. Junpei ran in, a flurry of flaming sword blows as he cut down shadows left and right. Two magic hands began a simultaneous attack when he was distracted with using his sword to deflect the arrows of a particularly annoying swarm of cupids, grabbing both his arms and causing him to drop his sword. The arrows hit the suit, causing minor damage whenever they hit, and he seemed fairly helpless, until both magic hands dropped to the floor, disappearing into black mist. The wings on his forearms had rotated forward, as if on a hinge, creating makeshift reverse grip blades on his wrists. He grinned, picking his sword off the ground and setting all three blades on fire. Shadows fell rapidly.

Yukari was in the back, picking off shadows whenever she could, when she quickly turned around and aimed a wind charged arrow at the Venus Eagle. The shadow sliced the arrow in half, although it had to stop to do so. She faced the particularly powerful shadow, slowly backing up into the madness of the battlefield behind her. She shot arrow after arrow at the Venus Eagle, slowing its charge since it had to stop to deflect all the arrows. A muttering tiara attempted to aim an ice spell at her, but Yukari didn't even turn to face it, only aiming her right arm at it. The stylized cow head shot off her forearm, as if propelled by rockets, and punched through the shadow's mask, destroying it instantly. It then flew back onto her arm, allowing her to continue to stall the Venus Eagle.

Although they advanced slowly, the group eventually managed to pierce through the veritable army, running down the stairs with the remains of the shadows they had just defeated and the Venus Eagle charging after them. Mitsuru chose now of all times to speak to them. _"You're on the third floor! Try to find the stairs and get out of there!" _Unfortunately, there was no magic rule that prevented the shadows from following them down the stairs, and the stairs down seemed to be rather hard to find today, as they did not manage to get to them before yet _another _large group of shadows appeared in front of them, trapping them once more in a hallway. _"There are so many today... It must be a result of the commotion caused by the exploding teleporter."_

Minato held his sword out, staring at the charging group of shadows, with the Venus Eagle in tow, knowing full well another group was still coming in from behind him. "Really helpful to know, Mitsuru. Really." Yukari looked at Junpei and Minato.

"Hold them off for a bit, I've got an idea."

Minato and Junpei nodded, with the latter saying, "Got it!"

"I'd rather not listen to a crazy gun woman, but I don't seem to have a choice." The two male riders in the group stood back to back, raising their swords in front of their faces. The swords were then set aflame. They charged forward, attempting to give Yukari time to go ahead with whatever plan she had.

Junpei had only regular shadows to deal with, whereas Minato had to also deal with the Venus Eagle. This made things significantly easier on the slacker teen, although he still needed to pay attention. His initial, wide slash against the group of shadows caused the entire first row of them to explode into flames, although they still kept coming. A cowardly maya jumped at his face, which he responded to with a flaming punch, made substantially more effective by his wing-arm blade slashing the shadow in half as well as the blunt trauma. Clusters of ice spells were shot at him, but he sliced through them with his burning sword, catching an arrow from a cupid while he was at it, burning it to a crisp in his fingers. Many more wide slashes kept the shadows mostly at bay, as his incredibly long katana required the shadows to keep a great deal of distance from him.

Minato's job was substantially more difficult. He had run in, stabbing the first shadow he saw, destroying the mask of a muttering tiara. Pulling his sword out, he backhanded the obsessed cupid shooting an arrow at him, setting it on fire and firing it into the cupid next to it, setting both of them on fire. Stamping on a cowardly maya's black body, Minato blocked a lightning spell with his sword, stabbing the electrically charged blade into the mask of the cowardly maya. At this point, the Venus Eagle had come in, slashing rapidly at Minato with its sword-like wings. Minato attempted to block, deflecting most of the blows, but his sword eventually broke from the sheer strength of the shadow's attacks. Having run out of any viable options, he decided to go with the stupidest idea possible: he headbutted the shadow. Apparently, it wasn't resistant to physical attacks, as Minato actually managed to knock it back. His head was now roaring with pain, but he had damaged it. He pushed a magic hand back, and entered a fighting stance, looking at the Venus Eagle. "Round two. Let's go!" The Kamen Rider and the Shadow ran at each other, fists and wings bared.

Yukari had, this entire time, had an arrow notched on her bow, aimed directly at the ground. Instead of a mere green aura surrounding the arrow, like what happened when she usually charged her projectiles with wind magic, she had built it up enough so that what looked like a miniature tornado formed around the arrow. She fired, letting it shoot into the air. The arrow itself did not pierce entirely through the floor, but the concentrated burst of wind magic not only made a large gap in the floor, but actually managed to destroy most, if not all, of the smaller shadows in the room. Minato, Junpei, and Yukari dropped to the floor, quickly jumping to their feet. The Venus Eagle, making a slow descent with its wings, landed on the floor in front of them.

All three SEES members were breathing heavily. They had, unfortunately, landed in a dead end, with the shadow blocking the only exit. Fighting seemed to be the only option, and the Venus Eagle had shown that it had far superior capabilities when compared to the three riders. Mitsuru, however, came in with a saving grace. _"Everyone! There's a way you can defeat it, but it's risky..."_

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything!" Minato shouted. "What is it?"

_"Scan your cards through your SEES driver again. It'll fill you with enough energy for one enormous attack. But it's - " _All of the riders, desperate to finish this, didn't even listen to the latter half of their statement as they manifested their cards, sliding them through the slot on top of their belt. All three belts spoke the same phrase at once:

**_"ALL._**

**_OUT._**

**_ATTACK."_**

Minato, knowing already what to do, knelt down into a crouching position, preparing to jump. Junpei held his sword with both hands, rearing it back. Yukari notched another arrow, aiming it at the Venus Eagle. The shadow, thinking that it would be easily able to take the damage, seemed to smack its chest, welcoming the oncoming attacks.

That would prove to be its undoing.

Leaping into the air, Minato's right foot began to glow with a blue flame, as he flipped forward in the air, aiming a flying side kick at the shadow's face. At the same time, Junpei's sword began to glow with a bright red energy, and he slashed in the air, causing the energy to shoot out of the sword and take the form of an enormous laser moving directly at the shadow. Yukari released the arrow, which looked similar to the arrow she had just fired previous, only instead of a tornado, the wind energy had formed a green, almost solid _drill _of wind energy around the arrow. The trio of attacks: the rider kick, the sword beam, and the drill arrow; all of them smashed into the Venus Eagle at once, sparks flying from the impact zone. Within seconds, the shadow exploded into black flame. When the smoke cleared, Minato stood in front of where it had been, his back to the other riders.

For a moment, they said nothing, only attempting to catch their breath. Only Mitsuru interrupted the silence. _"... Good job. Return to the entrance lobby immediately."_

As the group began to trudge towards the teleporter, Minato noticed that _everything _felt sore, and there was no way he would be able to do much of anything tomorrow. It would feel great to just sleep in the entire da -

"...

Mitsuru."

The others looked at him, presumably wondering why he was attempting to contact her. _"Yes?"_

"... We...

Have school tomorrow.

...

Don't we?"

_"... Yes."_

Minato stood there for a good ten full seconds before groaning and heading onto the teleporter.

* * *

Notes:

Yes, Minato did already reverse Yukari's social link.

... And that's about all I can think of. The next chapter will hopefully be up soon, so in the meantime, read and review, etc.


	3. Strike! Go, Jack Frost Form!

HELLO CHILDERNS WELCOME TO CHAPTER 3

So the first thing I'd like to note is that the last three sections utterly refuse to save the underlined text, and I'm pretty sure I've re-underlined everything a dozen times by now and _nothing_ seems to work. Weirdly enough it's JUST that text; if I delete that text and write "your mother" or something and underline and save it, that stays. But not the actual fanfiction part of it. Yeah, go figure. I'll try and fix it later, but I'm really confused as to why this is even happening. D:

On a different note, reviews~! All three of them.

**Hishin Trueflame: **Minato, in this fic, pretty much has trouble liking anyone. Pushes people away, the only reason he social linked kenji was due to hilarious circumstances, yadda yadda yadda. In that case, the question isn't whether he'll be a pimp or not, but whether he'd be able/want to snag a girl at all. Which I'm not answering~

**Ultimatewolf: **OMG SOMEONE ELSE WHO'S WATCHED KAMEN RIDER?

Thanks for reviewing twice, it's interesting to know someone's thoughts on both chapters. As for the bike idea, that's... a pretty cool idea and I think I will use it. Along with the plans I had for the bike already. Now it will be MORE ridiculous!

So here's a third chapter. He social links Kenji in it! What fun.

* * *

To say that school the next day was difficult for Minato would be like saying doing pointless menial labor after a very long night of intense physical exertion was kind of annoying. In fact, that metaphor is very apt, since it is exactly what happened. The day began with Minato blatantly ignoring another student's questions as he entered the school, followed by a quick nap in class. He was interrupted by the teacher prodding him awake. Minato would go on to despise Ms. Toriumi for the rest of the year. You do _not _interrupt someone's nap. It just isn't done. Of course, he was interrupted because the class had to go listen to a speech from the student council president. It was probably some stupid, stuck-up nerd that sucked up enough to get their position.

"... Please welcome the new President, Mitsuru Kirijo, from Class 3-D."

Or maybe it was actually Mitsuru. Minato hoped desperately that she couldn't secretly read minds. That would end badly for him.

Mitsuru thanked the student who had introduced her and looked ready to begin her speech. Of course, this was a cue for Yukari and Junpei to start talking. Crazy gun woman spoke first, saying, "So, she did get elected... Well, I guess she IS the most popular girl in school." As he did whenever a speech was starting, Minato began to tune out any voice he heard.

"You can say that again! There's like some kinda aura around her... Besides, this school's owned by the Kirijo Group, right?" Absolutely nothing in the previous three sentences was heard by Minato, as his eyes slowly closed and he began to enter the wonderful land of sleep.

"Yeah, I try not to think about that."

Minato fell asleep.

"As I begin my term..."

Snore.

...

"... any idea of what she just said?"

Minato's eyes fluttered open, and he slowly inched his arms up to rub them. Apparently, the speech was over, and now Junpei had woken him up. He would punch Junpei, but honestly he felt too tired and lazy to put out the effort. The one with the stupid hat was apparently asking him a question about the speech, but the fact that Minato had just woken up from a nap essentially answered his question. "Dude... You're such a rebel."

* * *

The day passed in a blur, mostly because Minato slept through the rest of it. This was good, since it helped him ignore his hunger due to forgetting his lunch this morning and having no money. Apparently, he had slept through a rousing recital of poetry, courtesy of Ms. Toriumi. That probably explained the nightmares. As he exited school, he noticed a familiar blue capped figure heading towards him. He took the appropriate measures of avoidance and turned sharply to the right, hoping this would deter Junpei. Unfortunately, the intended effect didn't actually happen, and Minato soon found himself accosted by a stupid person. "'Sup, dude?"

Minato groaned. "What do you want?"

In response, Junpei winced, sort of expecting an answer like that from Minato, but still put off by it. "Chill, dude! Just wanted to talk." Minato sighed, prompting a frown from Junpei. "Man, why're you always like th - "

He was interrupted by a gaggle of screaming fangirls following a rather familiar figure. Apparently, Akihiko was exiting the school. And also had fangirls. Although Junpei had a look as though he wanted to begin bowing down, Minato only raised an eyebrow, rather skeptical. That was, quite possibly, the stupidest thing he had ever seen. For one thing, it made no sense: if all the girls liked him, why hadn't they already begun fighting amongst themselves? Judging from the fact that they had _formed a mob _around the boxing champion, they were probably air-headed and petty enough to do so. And why didn't Akihiko just tell them to piss off? He certainly didn't look very comfortable.

Minato rolled his eyes. He didn't like people for a lot of reasons, and the fact that people like the girls in that crowd existed was one of them. Really, this was like something out of a horrible anime. Junpei, on the other hand, was completely enamored by the phenomenon. "Have you noticed how popular Akihiko-san is with the ladies?" Minato blinked. Did he really just ask that?

He gestured vaguely towards the enormous crowd of girls in plain sight of Akihiko. "No, I haven't noticed. At all." Junpei didn't seem to catch the sarcasm.

"Man, take a look at that...I didn't use to talk to him much, but now I've got a good excuse. I know he's the captain of the boxing team, but... Who woulda thought he'd be such a chick magnet! I mean, come on! You don't even see girls flock like that on TV!"

"Don't you mean that it only happens _in _stupid TV shows?" Minato grumbled.

"I wonder where they're going..."

Minato groaned, facepalming while Junpei seemed completely oblivious to anything but the women. This guy was so desperate, it wasn't even funny. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Akihiko heading towards them, the crowd of girls following him, with cries of, "Senpai!" and "Wait for us!" and whatnot. Akihiko ignored them completely, and stopped in front of Minato and Junpei. The latter didn't look at Akihiko, but rather at the girls behind him, and usually at _very specific parts _of the girls, earning him more than a few glares. Minato stared passively at Akihiko, completely unaffected, earning him a few (entirely unwelcome) interested glances.

Akihiko nodded. "You two free this afternoon?" And Minato fought to keep down the gay jokes. Rather surprisingly, Junpei held off on the immature jokes as well, although he was probably just too giddy to do so in the face of all the girls. Instead, he nodded like a little kid.

"Hell yeah! Whatcha got in mind?"

"I want you two to meet me by the Paulownia mall." A frown manifested itself on Minato's face. Oh god, the mall. Minato had never been to a mall in his life. Usually, they were for social events, something he most definitely did not want to take part of. Before he could refuse, Akihiko continued. "You know where it is, right? I'll be at the police station. See ya there." The police station was, more than likely, not somewhere they would go for a social gathering, and this probably meant it had to do with the dark hour. Minato was okay with this, giving a slow nod, but Junpei was disappointed.

"Th-The police station? You mean, we're not hangin' out with your friends...?"

Akihiko gestured behind himself, grabbing the attention of most of the hopeful girls, a hope that was then crushed by his next words. "Who, these girls? I don't even know their names. They talk so much they give me a headache. Anyway, I'm gonna head out. ...Don't keep me waiting." Minato's respect for Akihiko grew slightly. The boxing team champ left, with the girls following and giving various displeased comments.

Junpei sighed. "Man, how can he not know their names? I mean, seriously! Just look at them!"

In response, Minato looked at Junpei, snorting. "I think you've 'looked at them' enough for the both of us, thanks."

"Hah, can you blame me?"

"Yes.

Yes I can."

* * *

Eventually, the duo ended up reaching the mall, and the time spent walking there was far too long for Minato's liking. The less time he spent with Junpei, the better. Did they fight together? Yes. Did he have to like him? Absolutely not. It didn't help that the guy wouldn't shut up the entire way, and Minato was about to start running towards the mall and leave Junpei in the dust right before they actually arrived. Akihiko was already there, speaking with a police officer. A sense of dread creeped its way up Minato's spine. _"Oh crap, did they find out about...?"_

Akihiko nodded when they arrived, then looked back at the policeman. "These are the guys I was talking about earlier." The officer only stared at the two, pausing when he looked at Minato. He said nothing, only staring at them, which did not help Minato's growing worry.

_"ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap"_

"This is officer Kurosawa. He helps keep our squad well-equipped. And this is from Ikutsuki-san..." He passed five-thousand yen to both Minato and Junpei. Junpei was elated with the money, while Minato just stared at it, vaguely confused. Akihiko didn't seem to notice his plight.

"You can't fight something empty-handed, so find something you like. Officer Kurosawa has connections... But, these things still cost money." Minato looked up at Akihiko.

"... So we're here to get weapons?"

"Yeah."

"... No other reasons, right?"

It was Akihiko's turn to look confused. "... Uh, yeah. Why?"

_"Oh phew, they didn't find out._" Minato shook his head. "No particular reason."

Akihiko shrugged. "Well, alright then. I'll see you two later." He looked over at Kurosawa, who nodded at him. "Thanks again." The boxing champ left, leaving a relieved Minato and Junpei with the police officer. Kurosawa looked at them, starting to speak.

"I've been informed about you two. My job is to maintain peace in this city, regardless of the circumstances. I'm just an ordinary police officer, but it doesn't take a genius to know something strange is going on here." Minato interrupted, a skeptical look on his face.

"... So that means you'll sell weapons to teenagers?"

"I'm only doing what I think is right." Minato snorted. They seemed to have very low moral standards for officers in Port Island. Speaking of which...

"_Why _do you guys have your station_ in the middle of a mall?_ I mean, with all the punks around, there's a lot of stuff happening in the streets, so why not - " Kurosawa ignored Minato, instead gesturing to the weapons he had on display.

"This may be for a good cause, but these thing still cost money."

"... You aren't paying attention to what I say, are you?"

No answer. Of course, he didn't answer.

As Minato glanced through the various armors on sale, Junpei immediately went for the swords, picking up two more enormous katanas. Minato snorted, looking forward to seeing Junpei fail at dual-wielding swords, when he remembered that his sword from last night hadn't broken. "... Junpei, you already have one sword. How do you expect to hold three?"

"I'll hold one in my mouth!"

"..."

Minato went back to shopping, desperately hoping Junpei was just kidding. That hope was dashed when he realized that Junpei was actually going up to Kurosawa, asking how much the swords cost. He turned around, sighing. "Junpei, the suits don't HAVE mouths. That's impossible."

"... Oh. Right."

In a motion he seemed to be repeating a lot lately, Minato slapped his palm against his forehead. As Junpei put one sword back, Minato, feeling rather stupid, realized that body armor would be completely useless, considering they already had the rider suits. And, unless he joined Kendo club soon or something, he felt that using a sword wouldn't be as effective as using his fists. Plus, the sword he had used last night _shattered _when it had come into contact with the Venus Eagle's sword, so even if he knew how to use weapons, their overall effectiveness was rather questionable. He pocketed the money and walked out, not actually buying anything.

As luck would have it, Junpei left soon after, a single katana sloppily hidden in the folds of his jacket. "Hey, wait up!"

This guy was not able to tell when someone didn't want to talk to them. "What is it this time?"

"No wait, it's important this time! It has to do with Tartarus and stuff." Minato's ears metaphorically perked up. Junpei had something important to say? "I came up with names for our finishing moves!" ... Or, maybe he didn't.

Minato attempted to blow him off and insult him in some way. Truly, he did. The Kamen Rider nerd in him, however, refused to allow this. "... Go on."

"Well, Mitsuru-senpai told me that our rider names are based off of the arcana and stuff. I'm Kamen Rider Magician, you're Kamen Rider Fool..." Minato nodded, having known vaguely about this. "Well, since we're based off the arcana, what if our finishing moves are named about them? Like, my finishing move would be the Burning Arcana Typhoon!" Minato felt enormously guilty for thinking, even for a second, that was cool. "And Yuka-tan's would be the Swirling Arcana Breaker, and your's would be called..." Junpei paused, thinking. "Actually, you're the one who got the rider kick, right? Man, I'm jealous..." Before Minato could interrupt, Junpei just kept talking. "Ooh! Yours can be called the Blazing Arcana Smash! Cool, huh?"

Speaking before thinking, Minato agreed, saying, "Yeah." He then visibly winced, his eyebrows furrowing and his frown deepening, as he looked off to the side. WHY did he say that? Granted, he would be okay with this names, and - he shook his head, enormously embarrassed. Junpei didn't notice.

"Alright! Awesome!" Much to Minato's growing disturbance, he wrapped an arm around Minato and clapped his shoulder. "Man, you're a lot cooler than I thought you were!" Ignoring Minato's outburst that quite clearly contradicted the previous statement, Junpei noticed a figure familiar to him on the other side of the mall, waving frantically. "Hey! Kenji! Over here!" Junpei's friend, a stupid-looking person with brown hair, walked over, much to Minato's displeasure. "This is Kenji! Kenji, Minato. Minato, Kenji."

"What's up?"

Minato stared at Junpei, annoyed. "Oy, what're you - "

"Alright! Guys, let's go buy some ramen!" Junpei pulled out the leftover money he had received from Ikutsuki. "My treat!"

"Awesome!"

_"Oh god, how did I get involved in this?"_

* * *

The ramen, in all honesty, wasn't that bad. In fact, it was pretty good. The company, however, was not. While Kenji and Junpei talked, Minato awkwardly ate his ramen, attempting to think of the reason he was not running away as fast as he could. The only reason he could think of is that he was hungry and it was free. Plus, he had already ordered, and there wasn't ever a good reason to waste food.

Eventually, Junpei had to go to the bathroom, leaving Minato alone with Kenji. The latter was, to Minato's relief, seemingly occupied with eating his ramen as loudly and noisily as possible, and wasn't talking to Minato for the moment. Before he could have more than a few seconds of relative peace, Kenji had _finished the entire bowl. _As Minato stared in horror at the incredible feat of speed and endurance, Kenji struck up a conversation. "Man, this stuff is great!"

"Guess so." Minato attempted to get the image of Kenji wolfing down food in his brain out by distracting himself with more food. It wasn't working very well. Kenji chuckled.

"Not very talkative, are you?"

Minato shrugged in response, still eating. Kenji began to go on a rant about how good the food was, instead of actually talking to Minato. "But man, this ramen tastes great, doesn't it? I bet they put a special ingredient in it-something no other ramen shop uses. It's probably some sort of secret spice... Oh, sorry. My bad. I get all geeked up when I eat here." Minato rolled his eyes. This guy loved the sound of his own voice.

"Shut up and let me eat."

Surprisingly enough, Kenji was _not _offended by his remark, only spurred on to continue talking about noodles. "Yeah, man, you're right. If we talk too much, the noodles will get soggy. ...It's just that by the way you're savoring your soup, it seems like you really appreciate its flavor." Minato stopped eating and slowly turned towards Kenji. Seriously, hadn't he _just _told him to shut up? Before he could say anything, (Minato found himself interrupted a lot these days.) Kenji started talking again. "...By the way, man, I hear you and Yukari are close." Minato snorted, and some ramen nearly came out of his nose.

"... Are you serious?" Kenji looked confused, so Minato elaborated. "Crazy gun woman hates me. Saying we're close is like saying Junpei gets good grades." Kenji seemed to process this information for a moment before laughing.

"Haha, yeah... That guy isn't too bright sometimes." Kenji shut up for a moment, and Minato thought that the situation was going to digress into an awkward silence, and got in another mouthful of noodles before Kenji started talking again. "Hey, let's hang out after school again sometime." Minato suddenly began to choke on his noodles, but Kenji didn't notice, looking up and distracted by thoughts of something. "We'll get some food and I'll tell you about my secret plan..." He looked over at Minato. "Wait 'til you hear it du - oh jesus, you're choking!"

Kenji rushed over to perform a heimlich maneuver on Minato. As the hijinks ensued, with Junpei coming out of the bathroom and briefly thinking the two were doing something rather intimate before realizing the situation, Minato heard a voice in his head, with the image of a card appearing in front of his eyes.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana..." _

* * *

Once it had been confirmed that Minato was no longer choking to death, he quickly took his exit, heading straight back to the dorm. By the time he got back, it was already dark, and he felt like having a long night of sleep without anyone intercepting him at the door. Of course, this meant that Mitsuru intercepted him at the door.

She nodded curtly. "Arisato." The way she said just his name indicated that she wasn't merely greeting him, and that she wanted to talk about something or other.

Minato looked at her, vaguely annoyed. He wanted to go to sleep, damnit. "What do you want?" She frowned at his behavior, confirming what she had heard from the others.

"I have heard that your behavior to your peers has been... less than kind." She stared at him, and Minato had the sinking feeling that he was being reprimanded. Mitsuru narrowed her eyes. "I would advise you to fix your attitude in the future."

Minato snorted. "Why should I bother?" He walked off, and would have gone up to his room if Mitsuru hadn't said what she said next.

"If you don't... let me put it this way. Keep this up, and you will be the only rider without a motorcycle." Minato froze in his tracks.

Without turning around, he looked behind himself and raised his hands. "Alright, alright! I got it, I'll be nicer! Geez, no need to threaten me..."

"Good."

When he got up into his room with the door safely closed, Minato groaned. Now he actually had to start being nice to people.

* * *

The next day, Minato was woken by the exit bell, signifying that the day was over. He rolled his head, cracking noises coming from his neck, as he yawned. Even if he got a lot of sleep last night, he was still a high school student, and therefore perpetually tired. A well-rested high school student was like Minato hanging out with other people. It just wasn't done.

"Hey, Minato!" Kenji was, apparently, walking up to his desk. "Wanna go get some ramen?"

Before Minato could give his planned out _highly _negative response, a noise caught his ear, and a redhead caught his eye. Mitsuru Kirijo entered the room, and began to speak with the teacher, probably about something involving student council. The glance she tossed his way, however, indicated that she was probably watching, and would know if he said anything mean to Kenji. Swallowing his pride, (and some spit) Minato took a deep breath and spoke in a slow, restrained voice. "... Yes. Kenji. Let's go."

If Minato had any outward signs of dismay, (he had _several) _Kenji didn't notice. He began to walk towards the door, Minato hesitantly following. Kenji looked back, saying, "Alright! But you're paying."

"Hahahahahahahahahaha_no."_

* * *

If there was anything good about this to Minato, it was the ramen. The conversation was complete arse and he wasn't paying attention in the slightest, sure, but the ramen was _fucking delicious. _He had ordered a different kind than last time, and he greatly preferred this kind. It was rich with flavor and aroma, but managed to remain light, not heavy and overbearing. It was also at that perfect temperature where it was just hot enough to warm you up, but not so much as to burn your tongue. Actually, once he began to pay a bit more attention, Kenji was also talking about the ramen.

"But seriously, this stuff is great! Man, what do you think they put in here to make it taste so good?"

Minato stopped eating for a moment.

"Dead babies."

This time, it was Kenji's turn to choke. Unfortunately for him, Minato wasn't feeling up to actually helping, so the student had to swallow the cluster of noodles that had caught in his mouth whole. After taking a few deep breaths, Kenji looked at Minato, who was still eating. "Hah... Good one."

"Mmf."

The monosyllabic reply was courtesy of the noodles currently being shoved into Minato's mouth. To his relief, they actually began to eat in silence for once. Kenji probably thought it was amiable silence between two people who were kind of friends. The only thing Minato thought was that it was good that Kenji shut up for once. Eventually, the brown-haired teen stopped eating and looked at his wristwatch. It seemed to take a few seconds for what time it was to process, and then his face grew worried. "Oh, crap!" He looked at Minato, who hadn't even glanced over at the exclamation. "Minato, I've gotta go!"

"Mmf." He still wasn't paying attention.

"Oh, man... can't believe I forgot. This is pretty important, sorry dude."

"Mmf."

"You can handle the bill, right?"

"Mmf."

"Alright, thanks!" And Kenji ran out the door, towards whatever he was late to. Minato, still eating, heard the voice in his head once more.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana..."_

And now, his social link with Kenji was level two. He didn't really want to get close to Kenji, but apparently his power grew when this happened, which was nice. He still wasn't exactly a fan of the whole thing where his power grows with friendship, as he doubted he would make many friends. But it was rather convenient, he had to admit. And he hadn't even had to pay anything for i -

"... Wait a minute, WHAT?" Kenji had already left, and the bill had just arrived.

Minato's face met the counter.

* * *

After lamenting the loss of his pocket change, Minato returned to the dorm, where he was quickly nagged to lead the rest of the group into Tartarus. After a quick debate, he relented, and they holstered their evokers and weapons. Minato's lack of armament raised a few eyebrows, but no one questioned him. They all left the dorm in a group, looking rather suspicious, since they were all wearing guns. After managing to convince a bystander that they were all just really into cosplay, ("See, it's just a fake! It doesn't fire bullets at all!") they decided to all place the evokers in Mitsuru's bag for now, as well as the weapons.

They all laughed it off afterwards, even Minato, although he was laughing at how stupid all of them were. As they laughed, Minato heard another voice in his head.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..."_

Apparently, a social link could be for more than one person as well.

When they got to the school, the dark hour struck, and the building's transformation into Tartarus was as perplexing as ever. After Minato very audibly voiced his "concerns," they entered the tower, finding that the lobby was, unsurprisingly, the same as before. Mitsuru addressed the group. "As we explore Tartarus, this will be our temporary base of operations. I'm counting on you." Already walking off towards the door, Minato entered the velvet room.

* * *

"Ah, there you are."

The chair was as uncomfortable as ever, and Igor's crazy look hadn't changed. Minato sighed. "What cryptic crap are you gonna tell me today, old man?" Igor grinned, tilting his head and _by god, _it was _creepy._

"Well... I suppose it's time for me to explain what I really do here." Minato, now interested, gestured for Igor to continue. "It is my job to create new Personas. But in order to do so, I must fuse your Persona cards together... In other words, I shall merge them into a single Persona." Minato frowned.

"How do I get more persona cards? I can only summon Orpheus."

"When you have defeated your enemies, you will see the faces of possibility before you. There may be times when they are difficult to grasp - "

"Forget I asked, actually."

Igor's nose twitched. "Futhermore, if you've established a Social Link, you may be able to create an even stronger Persona. So, as you accumulate cards, please bring them to me." Minato blinked. So that's what he meant by his strength increasing with friendship. This was rather relieving, since he had initially thought that his actual power level would be weaker if he didn't make friends. Still, he did have an actual question.

"If I get more persona cards, does this mean I unlock more forms?"

Igor grinned. "It's possible."

Minato grinned. Now THIS was interesting. "Alright. Got it, old man."

* * *

"Allllright! Here comes Junpei Iori, also known as Kamen Rider Magician!"

Yukari facepalmed and Minato watched in vague amusement as Junpei, already transformed, charged at a Magic Hand, holding a sword in both hand, with the wing-arm blades extended. All of his weapons were on fire. Each of his clumsy, awkward strikes were punctuated with an over the top battle cry. He managed to eventually take out the Magic Hand, but the two more that came at him were not as easily taken care off. Normally, he would have been able to take them out much more quickly, but the added weight of an enormous sword in each hand and managing the arm blades made Junpei move even more predictably and slowly than usual. "Take that! And that!"

Minato, now annoyed with now long he was taking, crossed his arms. "Oy, maybe you should try actually hitting them!"

"Aw, shaddup, willya?" Stupidly Junpei turned around to say this, giving the shadows a clear opportunity to strike at his back. Junpei fell forward, sparks flying from him. Minato sighed, shaking his head. He walked casually forward, pulling out his evoker and shooting it at his forehead, causing the SEES driver to appear around his waist. He clipped the evoker into it, bringing his right hand up to the left side of his face.

"Man, looks like I've gotta clean up after you now." Still walking forward slowly, Minato slid the card through the evoker. "Henshin!"

_**"ORPHEUS FORM."**_

The now somewhat familiar pillar of blue fire circled around him, and his armor appeared around him. Somehow, the tornado of flames moved with him, and the armor still managed to form even though he was walking forward throughout the process. As the suit clamped onto his body, he briefly wondered what would happen if he attempted to henshin while jumping off a cliff. Or if he was underwater. Would the tornado of fire still form around him? Sure, fire couldn't exist underwater, but this was magic fire, kind of.

By the time that train of thought crashed into the wall, Minato had finished transforming. He clenched his fists as he reached the shadows, punching one with a grunt. His fist went _through _the Magic hand, causing it to explode into black clumps. The other received a similar treatment, only when it exploded, Minato seemed to go on an acid trip.

Having never done drugs, Minato didn't actually know what an acid trip felt like, but he assumed it was kind of like this. His vision had been replaced by a trippy, blue background with a few cards in front of him. Suddenly, they began spinning. At random, Minato focused on one of the, and the spinning suddenly ceased. The card flipped over, revealing the image of a blue, fairy like creature. Suddenly, his vision returned to normal, and Junpei and Yukari, having transformed at some point, were already a while ahead of him. "Come on, Minato! Hurry up!"

"Alright, alright. Geez, no need to be so nagging..."

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..."_

* * *

He never actually got a chance to use that new card, since the situation never arose. He could tell that his new persona, "Pixie," used electric and healing spells, which was nice, but he stuck with Orpheus. Not only did he not like the sound of a persona called "Pixie" and taking the form of it, he wasn't completely sure how to summon a card other than Orpheus'. Summoning the Orpheus card was natural and instinctual, and he was having trouble with the other personae.

He did manage to gain a few more of them that night, although by the time they left Tartarus, he was too tired to bother going into the velvet room to fuse any of them. He could do that whenever he wanted. Sleep was far more important, anyhow.

The next day, when he woke up, he noted that he was late. It took a full ten seconds of him lying sleepily in bed to process this fully. After a brief freak out, he exited the dorm with his jacket sloppily tossed on, his pants on backwards, and with no lunch or money to buy it with. By the time school was over, he had fixed his pants awkwardly in the bathroom for one thing, but his stomach was also growling from lack of nourishment. As if on cue, one Kenji Tomochika walked up and offered to go out for more ramen.

"... Don't you have anyone else to eat with?"

"Nah, come on man! I owe you one for sticking you with the bill last time! Come on, it's my treat."

Minato, hungrily desperate enough for food, agreed. "I suppose..."

"Awesome! Let's go, I'll tell you about my secret plan, too!"

* * *

"So, your dorm's co-ed, right? Can you go into Yukari-san's room and stuff?"

Minato sucked in a few more noodles. The variety he had ordered today was nice, but not nearly as good as last time. The pork was good, though. He liked the pork. After swallowing the mouthful, he looked at Kenji. If he offered to buy the food, it was the least Minato could do to actually talk. For once. He didn't like it, but he'd probably feel like a douche afterwards if he didn't. Plus, social links. "Yes, I can go into her room _technically, _but if I never want to go into crazy gun woman's room." More ramen in his mouth. More swallowing. "Besides, if I did, she'd kill me."

Kenj grinned. "So, no, huh? That's what I thought..." Minato could almost feel Kenji's grin burning into his shoulder. "Still, I'm not into girls her age..." Minato looked at Kenji with a mortified look on his face. Kenji, realizing what he had said, held his hands out in a defensive gesture.

"I mean _older _women, not little girls or something! Geez, dude!" Kenji, taking a break from discussion, ate some more ramen. Minato decided that he had done enough talking for now, and decided to tune out everything Kenji said from this point on.

"... I'm going to ask her out. Not that it's..."

"Mmhmm." Pork was tasty.

"... gotta promise you won't tell anyone..."

"Yep." It felt a little undercooked though. Should he be eating it?

"... find out, they'll be all like 'that's innapropriate' or whatever..."

"Mmm." It'd be amusing if Kamen Rider Fool, the defeater of shadows, was killed by a case of undercooked pork.

"... ahead with my secret plan, dude."

"Huh." Actually, no it wouldn't.

"... Kanou. You don't know her, do you?"

"Mmf." Because then he'd be _dead._

"... has pretty eyes, a nice little body, and..."

"Huh." And being dead would suck.

At this point, Minato had finished eating the Ramen, so had Kenji for that matter. Kenji looked at Minato. "Man, you're a great listener. It feels good to tell someone about my secret." Minato blinked. It would be enormously awkward if Kenji asked him a question about what he had just talked about. The bill came, and as promised, Kenji paid for all of it, much to Minato's relief. He looked at the blue-haired student. "Don't tell anyone about this, okay? You're the only one that knows."

Minato, knowing he couldn't tell anyone due to not actually knowing either, shrugged. "Sure, whatever." Kenji, apparently motivated by Minato's show of apathy, pumped his arms, standing up.

"Alright! I'm going to go device a plan of attack right now! Ms. Kanou will be my girlfriend in no time!" If he noticed the look of horrified realization on Minato's face, he didn't say anything as he ran out of the restaurant, very excited.

So apparently, Kenji was in love with a teacher.

"... What."

* * *

Later that night, in Tartarus once more, Minato winced, blocking another blow. The new variety of Maya, the Merciless Maya, were slightly more annoying than their Cowardly counterparts, in that they resisted fire. Of _course _they resisted fire, it was the only element Orpheus form knew. At that moment, Minato had an epiphany. It was the only element _Orpheus Form _knew. If he used one of his other cards, then...

According to Mitsuru, these shadows were weak to electricity. A persona with an electric attack would be... Pixie. Minato took up his henshin stance once more. He took a deep breath. Instead of doing what came naturally, he focused solely on Pixie, willing the card to appear in his hand. When the card appeared, instead of the image of a man walking off a cliff, there was an image of a large heart, a man and a woman standing under it. The regular image of Orpheus was replaced by a the image of a fairy-like creature, labeled as her namesake, Pixie. Without hesitation, Minato slid the card through the evoker. "Henshin!"

**_"PIXIE FORM~"_**

Before Minato could be slightly disturbed by the belt's sudden change of voice tone, a vortex of electricity surrounded him. While normally, this would be fairly awesome, the electricity was _pink. _And had _sparkles. _By the time the transformation sequence was over, Minato found himself in a costume so degradingly un-masculine that he blocked out the memory of ever having it on, thus rendering it illegible for being described in this narrative. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?"

Junpei burst out into laughter, and Yukari attempted to stifle a giggle. Mitsuru, while amused, was a bit more clinical about the whole thing, making a comment about Minato being able to use multiple forms that went wholly ignored as Minato re summoned the Orpheus card. "Oh hell no, fuck other personae, I am _not _wearing this shit." He said, sliding the card through its slot.

_**"ORPHEUS FORM."**_

Soon enough, he was back in his regular rider costume that was generally a lot manlier looking. The Merciless Maya leaped at him, but was pushed back by Minato's fist. "Christ, make me put something like that on, will you?" An idea he had no idea would work came into his mind, but he held up his hand anyway. A card appeared in it, with only the symbol of lightning on its otherwise bland surface. He slid it through the evoker.

**_"SPELL CARD: ZIO!"_**

His arms suddenly glowing with electricity, he pointed his right hand at the shadow, moving his fingers into the shape of a gun. The electric current shot out, striking the Merciless Maya and causing it to dissolve into black powder. Minato brought his pointer finger up to his face and attempted to blow on it, realizing that his mask made the gesture rather hard to read. Awkwardly, he put his arm back down as Yukari and Junpei ran up to him. Mitsuru got in the first word, however. _"Arisato, you can use multiple personae?"_

"Unfortunately, yes." Junpei's laugh was stifled with a fist.

_"Inconceivable... I'll have to speak with the chairman about this later. What was that 'spell card' you used?" _

Minato responded, somewhat polite for once. No point in being rude, since it was a somewhat valid question. "I think that I can use the abilities of my other Personae without actually transforming into them. Thank god, since I'm never transforming into _that thing _ever again." He did note that the electric spell felt weaker than most of his fire spells. Perhaps the spell cards were slightly weaker than actually using the ability with the actual persona the spell belongs to equipped. A slight difference in power, however, was worth sacrificing for the sake of his dignity.

_"Interesting. Continue on with your exploration as usual, for now._"

"Got it - " If his eyes were visible, Minato would have been glaring at Junpei for still laughing.

Junpei wouldn't leave Tartarus that night without wounds that weren't inflicted by shadows.

* * *

After a wonderful schoolday of napping, Minato met with Kenji in the first floor hallway. Kenji looked nervous, but slightly relieved when Minato showed up. "Hey, thanks for coming, man. Can you wait here for a bit?" Minato raised an eyebrow.

"... Why did you call me here just to leave me alone?"

Kenji looked around, trying to see if anyone was listening before leaning in, his hand covering one side of his mouth. In response, Minato leaned back. Didn't this guy know about personal sp - "Hey, don't freak out man, but... I'm gonna go ask Ms. Kanou out right now!"

"... What."

Kenji looked confused. "What?"

"... You're serious?"

"Yeah, man." Kenji looked annoyed. "Didn't you listen? She and I are _close, _man! She's been giving me private lessons and everything! She calls me handsome, doesn't use honorrifics with me... I think she wants to ask me out, but is too shy to do so since she's a teacher and all. So this way, if I ask _her _out, then - "

"Don't do it."

Minato's words came as a great blow to Kenji's confidence. "D-Don't scare me like that, man... Say something encouraging like, "You can do it!" or "Go for it!" Something like that..." Minato continued on, not caring that he was probably either about to reverse the social link or at least piss Kenji off severely.

"Seriously, don't do it. She's just leading you on, the bitch." He began to elaborate, ignoring Kenji's growing expression of shock and slight anger. "If you ask her out, she'll toy with you for a bit and then dump you. It's pretty obvious she's leading you on. You can't trust people like her, all they'll do is betra - "

"H-Hey! Don't talk about her like that!"

Minato groaned, rubbing his temples. Yep, Kenji wasn't going to listen to him. "Y-You don't know what you're talking about! Watch, I'm going to go ask her out right now!" As Kenji ran off, Minato heard a sound like cracking glass in his head.

_"Thou shalt not have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana..." _Yep. Reversed.

Minato walked away, slightly annoyed at the loss of his new power and Kenji's stupidity, but deciding that this was for the best. He believed in his words. He couldn't trust people.

All they ever do is toss you aside, anyway.

As he exited the school, strangely enough, the sound of breaking glass entered his head yet again.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana..."_

Rank 4. Minato chuckled. Looks like Kenji had realized he was right.

* * *

The romantic plights of silly schoolboys was the last thing on Minato's head when he entered Tartarus that night. They had reached the tenth floor, which held a powerful shadow, much like the Venus Eagle. This one, however, was much more powerful than the Venus Eagle. It was, essentially, an enormous purple hand with an angular, demonic appearance. It was like the Magic Hands, but larger and a lot more badass. And a lot more powerful, for that matter, as it seemed to be smacking around the three riders rather easily.

Junpei came in, swinging his arm blades. His regular sword had been crushed in the shadow's grip already. The slashing attacks had little effect on the enemy, and seemed to merely bounce off its thick hide. _"Iori, the shadow is resistant to physical attacks!" _

"How about THIS?" Minato came in, fists aflame, with a flurry of blows aimed at the shadow form behind. Junpei followed suit, setting his arm blades on fire and cutting frantically. Yukari, from a distance, shot arrow after arrow into it, now charged with wind energy. The triple assault was warded off rather easily, as the shadow spun around with its fingers extended, knocking Minato and Junpei back. "Man, what's this thing weak to?"

_"It seems to be weak to ice spells!"_

Minato sat there for a moment before tossing his arms up in frustration. "Of COURSE it's weak to the only type of spell I don't have! Of FUCKING course!"

The shadow then curled into a fist and charged at Yukari, ramming her into the wall. She gave a grunt of pain as the wall cracked, the shadow turning its attention back to the two males. Yukari's suit had, apparently sustained too much damage, and it dissapeared in a flash of light, leaving Yukari, unconscious, on the ground with no protection.

"Yuka-tan!" Junpei's worried shout was interrupted by the shadow slapping him aside, tossing him into the same wall Yukari had just been rammed into. The impact was much less, however, and Junpei managed to remain conscious. He staggered to his feet, movements unsteady. "I'm... not done with you yet..."

_"This battle is too much for you! With Takeba unconscious, you won't be able to handle the Dancing Hand alone. Retreat for now!" _Minato winced.

"Are you serious?"

_"That's an order, Arisato." _Minato scowled underneath the mask. She was right, of course. He looked at Junpei.

"Get crazy gun woman to the teleporter! I'll hold it off for a moment." Junpei hesitantly picked Yukari up bridal style, trying to get her to the teleporter in time. _"Probably the most intimate contact he'll have with a woman in his life." _Minato's snarky comments were distracted by his remembering that he actually needed to distract the dancing hand. He jumped forward, hanging onto its pinky finger right as it was about to attack the slowed down Junpei. With a battle cry, Minato climbed up on top of it, barely hanging on as it twisted and turned, trying to get the rider off its back. In the chaos, Minato manifested the Orpheus Card in his hand, sliding it into the Evoker.

**_"ALL._**

**_OUT._**

**_ATTACK."_**

Minato stood up on top of it, prepared to stamp his foot down in a rather lazy rider kick, but the shadow took the opportunity to buck back wildly, knocking Minato off and into the wall. Thankfully, he slide down onto the teleporter right after Junpei had left, still holding Yukari. As the green light surrounded him, Minato took the opportunity to give one last defiant gesture to the shadow before he teleported: he flipped it off. Strangely enough, he could have sword that the shadow flipped him off back.

It was probably just his imagination.

* * *

They had no school the next day, making Minato was eternally grateful for the fact that sundays existed. He slept in until a ludicrous time, his body needing to recuperate from the fight against the Dancing Hand. He still couldn't believe they had actually lost. He'd have to try and pick up some more personae in Tartarus that night. That is, if they went to Tartarus that night. He wasn't sure any of them were completely up to it, with the beating they had taken last night. He didn't know how well crazy gun woman was doing, but she had been knocked unconscious, which generally doesn't signify something good.

Rolling out of bed, he switched into his normal day clothes and walked around the dorm. Surprisingly, Yukari was on the sofa, reading a book of sorts. Minato looked at her. She looked at him. "... Weren't you knocked unconscious, like, just last night?"

"It's called healing magic."

"... Oh, right." She got up and left. Yeah, Yukari still didn't like him. Not that he cared in particular. Bitch had been taking the good couch spot. As Minato slouched down where Yukari had just been sitting, his phone rang. He frowned, not recognizing the number. Regardless, he pressed the vague, green button, putting the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

_"Uh... Hey, Minato-san."_ Oh boy, it was Kenji. As Minato weighed the pros and cons of hanging up, lover-boy continued talking. _"Just wanted to say, uh... Sorry for freaking out at you yesterday."_ Minato snorted, a gesture he wasn't sure Kenji was even able to hear, due to them communicating over the phone.

"So, did you realize how stupid you are?"

_"... Yeah." _Kenji was admitting he had been silly? How strange. _"When I went to go ask her yesterday..._" Kenji sighed, making a rather gross and annoying noise when translated over the phone. Minato briefly pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing. _"... She was with another guy. And... They were..."_

"Banging?"

_"No, worse! Kissing!" _Kenji took a moment to realize what he just said. _"No, wait..." _Minato chuckled, probably flustering Kenji quite a bit. _"A-Anyway!_

_I just wanted to say... thanks for trying to warn me beforehand. We only met a few days ago, but you're being such a good friend...__" _Minato blinked. They were... friends? Kenji seemed to think so apparently, but Minato... he thought that Kenji was an idiot. That was for certain. But did he HATE the kid?

Minato, quite honestly, couldn't say that he genuinely hated Kenji. The thought scared him.

_"I won't let myself be led on by teachers or anyone else, anymore! I'll get a girlfriend and choose who it is myself, not be led on by someone else!"_

"That's, uh, great. Good for you." Kenji, spurred on by his sudden confidence, didn't notice the distracted apathy in Minato's voice.

_"Seriously though. Thanks man. You're the best." _The sound of cracking glass echoed in Minato's head.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana..."_

_"Anyway, I gotta go. Rio wants to go shopping..." _Kenji paused. _"Hrmm... Rio, huh?"_ He laughed. _"See you later!" _And then he hung up.

Minato sat there, keeping the phone against his ear for an entire minute. His arm then slumped uselessly onto the sofa, with the phone bouncing off two seats away.

He had a friend.

...

"Huh."

Deciding to take his mind off this rather confusing new territory, he went back to considering ways of how to defeat the Dancing Hand. None of the personae he currently had knew any ice spells, and he felt like he couldn't pick up any new personae from that card game at the moment. He recalled Igor's words, of how the strange old man could fuse personae together into stronger personae. Minato blinked. If he knew his basic arithmatic as well as he thought he did, Kenji's social link had just reached rank 5.

Social links could, evidently, increase the power of fused Personae. He didn't know how high a social link could go, but 5 seemed like a decent number. He'd have to go visit Igor later.

Considering that Junpei came down at that precise moment, declaring that he and Minato should go do something, 'later' became 'immediately.'

* * *

Igor grinned as usual. "Welcome."

Minato looked at him, unamused. "What's the strongest persona I could get right now that knows ice spells?" He extended his right hand out, manifesting all the persona cards he currently had into his grip. Igor reached out and grabbed the cards, spreading them out in his long, nimble fingers. Minato, for a moment, was vaguely reminded of children's card games. He shook his head. This was much more serious. This was... _"Actually, Kamen Rider is a children's television series, so..."_

Igor's words snapped him out of his train of thought. "Well, there is one persona..." Minato raised an eyebrow.

"Fuse him."

"As you wish... Be forewarned, however.

This one is a little _eccentric." _

* * *

Green light surrounded Minato, Yukari, and Junpei as they stepped onto the teleporter on the lobby. Considering that they were teleporting directly onto the tenth floor, where the Dancing Hand was, they had deemed it a good idea to transform beforehand, so they were battle ready as soon as they entered. This seemed to be a good idea, as the Dancing Hand had been waiting for them. For a moment, Minato wondered whether or not it had been waiting for them since the last time they fought. Could shadows even get bored? If not, it might have just waited for them the entire time. In the next moment, he didn't have time to consider such silly questions, since the hand was charging at them. Minato rolled to the right, Yukari and Junpei moving to the left. The shadow impacted against the wall, and shook itself off like a person might have shaken their hand after punching a solid object.

Junpei, of course, immediately charged in with the exact same strategy that hadn't worked before, only now his regular katana was on fire instead of the arm blades. He sliced repeatedly at the hand, seeming to do little to not damage. Yukari shot arrows into it, now charged with wind. While the shadow back handed Junpei into Yukari, Minato asked Mitsuru a question. "So this thing was weak to ice, right?"

_"That is correct." _

Minato grinned.

"Perfect."

He brought his right hand up to the left side of his face, striking his pose with his left hand at the side of his right hip. Yet another card appeared in his dominant hand, this time with the image of a pair of hands and eyes with fire in between them. The image of the Magician Arcana, the social link he had just done with Kenji. He grinned. Sure, it was another fairy, but at least it wasn't as girly this time. "Thanks for the persona, you desperate bastard.

Henshin!"

He slid the card through the slot.

_**"JACK FROST FORM."**_

A small blizzard formed itself around Minato, wrapping him in sleet and hail. A blanket of sheer white covered the rider, and yet he felt no discomfort from the freezing temperature. He felt the Orpheus Form armor dissipiate, and new armor appeared. Armor he hadn't worn yet. A new helmet, distinctly different and slightly heavier, dropped onto his head, and he felt his blood grow cold as the power of ice manifested itself in his limbs. The storm around him disappeared, and Minato stood there in his new form.

The layer of thick, spandex-like material that was underneath the main armor segments was still white, although a subtly different white from the Orpheus Form white. Whereas that form's white was somewhat off white and metallic, the Jack Frost Form's white was pure, much like snow. The armor was a much deeper blue, with touches of yellow just to add a bit more flair. There were no shoulderpads, and the chestpiece felt lighter, and not as thick. The arm-guards extended into blue gloves, and his greaves and boots were blue as well. The helmet was now white, with yellow compound eyes, and a helmet shaped like the hat on the image of Jack Frost, only angular, with the two little spikes being pointed straight down, and much sharper. Most important was the addition of a large holster with an enormously over sized gun. The barrel was the size of a large brick, and it had a colorful blue and white design, with a highly stylized "JF" on the side of it.

As a guy, Minato's attention was immediately drawn to the enormous gun. He distinctly recalled Igor's words. _"If you've established a Social Link, you may be able to create an even stronger Persona."_ Evidently, social link translated into over the top weapons. Minato was completely okay with this.

He pointed the gun, which he immediately titled the Frost Magnum in his head, at the Dancing Hand. He walked slowly towards it, firing at a steady rate. Instead of bullets, the gun launched blasts of sheer cold that slammed into the Shadow. Even without a mouth, it screeched in pain, turning around at Minato. With some rapid fire blasts, he managed to bring it down to the ground. He grinned, having the Jack Frost card appear between the middle and pointer finger of his left hand. He slid the card into a slot in the top of the gun. The card disappeared in a sprinkle of blue light, and the weapon and Minato's belt spoke in unison.

_**"ALL.**_

_**OUT.**_

_**ATTACK."**_

Minato grinned. "Hee ho, motherfucker." And pulled the trigger.

An enormous laser of hail, fleet, snow, and every other potential form of cold fired out of the gun and slammed into the Shadow, almost immediately encasing it in ice and causing it to explode outwards, its remains melting into the floor. The recoil from the sheer force of the blast knocked Minato against the wall, making him give a grunt of pain upon the impact.

That had been completely worth it.

* * *

Just for the sake of convenience, here's a social link guide!

**Fool - **Rank 2

**Magician - **Rank 5

**Lovers - **Reversed

Blah blah blah, read and REVIEW seriously I like getting reviews D: They make me feel all tingly inside.


	4. Mystery! Arrival of the Mysterious Trio!

O BOI NEW CHAPTER! THIS IS EXCITING YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Okay, since I forgot to mention it last time, the Jack Frost form fight/ending theme is "Ice," By Janne Da Arc. Yes, the same band. Is it pointless to have these themes chosen? Sorta kinda. Do I find it amusing to do? Yeeeeeeeeeep. Also, fanfiction still refuses to save underlined text, so you may see some formatting changes in this chapter. How exciting!

Anyway reviews. I will respond to them. I got a few more than I expected this time, so yay! I'd really appreciate it if you guys recommended this fic to people if you actually liked it that much, since people do tend to disregard crossovers in general.

**Hishin Trueflame: **Yes, I know what you meant with that question. And I'm not going to answer, because that would spoil what I have planned.

**Fan of Fanfics21: **Haha, oh god, your review gave me the greatest idea for the Jack Brothers spell ever. Granted, it won't actually appear for a while, but don't worry, it will eventually~

**Anon: **Yay! Thanks~!

**Destinydeck: **Of COURSE they're going to have motercycles, it wouldn't be called kamen RIDER if they didn't. :P Yeah, the Frost Magnum is just a gun, although having a revolver arm would be pretty badass.

Obviously, Minato will use Alice form in a crossdressing competition. It's your choice as to whether or not you think I'm kidding.

Also there are the individual themes for, so far at least, Jack Frost form and Orpheus Form, and they'll serve as the fight themes in general. But the other riders getting fight themes? Uh, maybe? I dunno, if I find stuff that fits, then sure.

**Astrih Konnash: **Yeah, I wish that the p4 one went farther, because I kinda liked where it was going. D:

and YOU'RE NOT INTO KAMEN RIDER HOW DARE YOU _LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FIGHT ABOUT IT OVER THE INTERNET HGRAHLJSDF_

Silliness aside, thanks for the compliments, and Mara Form~~~ It will be amusing, although considering how high level Mara is, it won't appear for a while. That is, if Minato even WANTS to use it.

**Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: **I READ KAMEN RIDER SYSTEM I THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY COOL AND THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW AND YES MINATO IS KIND OF A DICK, THAT IS WHAT I INTENDED AND THANKFULLY HE WILL HAVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ALTHOUGH HE'LL STILL BE A DICK FOR A WHILE SINCE THAT DEVELOPMENT WILL BE PRETTY GRADUAL AND FOR PAIRINGS I'D RATHER NOT SPOIL WHAT I HAVE PLANNED FOR PAIRINGS AND IF I HAVE PAIRINGS THEY PROBABLY WON'T BE YAOI BECAUSE I'M A GUY AND STRAIGHT SO NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE WHO LIKES YAOI BUT WRITING IT WOULD FEEL KIND WEIRD FOR ME ALSO WHY ARE WE TALKING IN CAPS

**DiLost: **The riders aren't really based on Den-O. I like to think, at least, that they aren't based on any of the canon rider systems. The only real resemblance I can see with the Den-O system is the saying of "_ FORM" but the system overall is pretty different, what with the lack of four preset forms + super forms and instead, at least for Minato, being able to have as many forms as there are cards. The other riders only have one form due to them only having one card, at least until resolution but that's getting into spoiler catagory. I do REALLY like Den-O, though~

Actually, on a related note, I DO steal henshin poses. Minato's regular pose is OOO's henshin pose, and Junpei does the faiz posing whenever he transforms. Yukari just goes through the barebones motions because she's boring.

**DLSZ-Boy: **Haha, thanks. I do have plans for having a whole lot more riders than a normal series, (lolryuki) but dunno about an army. 'Sides, I got plans for the final boss already. Also, I read Fairly English Story, and it was pretty goddamn manly, and partially my inspiration for actually getting into fanfiction, so hearing that I might reach near that level of awesome is much appreciated~

In any case, chapter 4! Stuff happens! Minato social links yet more people! How exciting and completely unexpected! Not COMPLETELY happy with how this chapter came out. I'll compensate by making the next one awesome! I promise!

* * *

Time passed, albeit now in 25 hour intervals.

Minato regularly led SEES into Tartarus, always making sure they weren't too tired before entering. Of course, that actually means that he really only made sure he got enough rest; if Yukari or Junpei were tired when he wanted to go, that certainly sucked for them. No matter how much they complained, all the riders did have to admit that the constant training truly did help to hone their skills. While Minato liked to think that he hadn't been a slouch in combat before, he could tell that his strength and skill grew with every trip, and his mastery over his Persona powers was growing rather remarkable. He did have the possibility of many different forms from the personae he had collected thus far, but he really stuck with Jack Frost form and Orpheus Form. He liked the former because it had a gun and guns were awesome, and he liked the latter because something about the feel of that particular suit just made Minato comfortable while using it. He also enjoyed the visual aspect of those two suits, since they did look rather badass in his opinion, unlike _pixie form. _Plus, he could already use the spell cards to gain access to the spells that Orpheus and Jack Frost form couldn't use. Sure, they were less powerful, but usually, when a shadow was hit with their weakness, they flopped over and stayed down, so Minato could usually just destroy them with his bare hands afterwards.

Junpei had, in Minato's opinion, evolved from an idiotic, common sense lacking caveman who had no basic motor skills to just a regular idiotic, common sense lacking caveman. He had, thankfully, dropped the idea of attempting to coordinate a fighting style where he fights using both his armblades and his katana, instead choosing to rely mainly on the sword. The wing-like blades mounted on his forearms were still used, sure, but usually only when Junpei had dropped the sword like an idiot or it broke altogether. Yukari did what made sense for a rider that used a bow and arrow: stay near the back and pick off enemies from a distance. She wasn't completely incompetent when it came to close combat, either. However, since her abilities geared her more towards long-distance fighting, if an enemy came close, Yukari usually just used her wind magic to push them away and then drop a dozen arrows in their face.

Of course, Minato hadn't managed to social link anyone else yet. It wasn't as though people didn't _want _to talk to him, but he didn't want to talk to people. After he had managed to social link Kenji, Minato had been pointedly avoiding the other male student. He seemed busy with Rio, anyway.

Mitsuru had apparently stopped nagging him to be nicer after she saw that he had "befriended" Kenji, and Minato took this opportunity to go back to his old, preferred method of completely shutting down anyone who attempted to initiate a conversation with him. For a single, glorious week, his rude and unnecessarily biting antics went unhindered, and all was well with the world.

And then clubs were open to sign ups.

"Arisato, join a club."

"No, piss off."

"Motorcycles~"

"I hate you."

That was not a _completely _accurate representation of the conversation that Minato and Mitsuru had, but it was close enough, at least in Minato's mind. The night following that conversation, shadows found themselves dying deaths slightly more sadistic than what was usual.

Of course, no matter how annoyed he was or how much he told himself he would "accidentally forget" to sign up for a club, Minato was never quite able to evade Mitsuru's watching eye. She was _everywhere_. After the first, initial day that was filled with that particular feeling of being watched, Minato found himself contemplating an entire week of this behavior. The train of thought was quite quickly slammed into a brick wall by Mitsuru confronting him after school, telling him that if he actually did "accidentally forget" to sign up for a club, the excuse would be invalid and he would have a certain lack of awesome, motorized device when compared to the other riders.

The next day, Minato found himself signing up for Kendo club.

* * *

_A rush of cold wind breezed into the room as he removed his hand from the newly formed hole in the wall, his knuckles red with blood. His blood. He had locked himself in his room for the past seven hours, refusing to leave or discuss anything with anyone. _

_Life had, for him, gone on a complete downward spiral as of late, and he couldn't handle it. His grades were dropping, his girlfriend had been cheating on him, and now he had lost the Kendo tournament, a tournament he had been looking forward to for months. The thoughts of first place and that generous cash prize had been the only thing dragging him through the depression, and now reality was crashing in on him, moving through the broken defenses that had once been upheld by his shattered dreams. His parents were knocking on the door, but they couldn't help. They didn't get it. They had been teenagers in their time, and he was a teenager in his time. They didn't get it. Shouting a slurred, choked-up demand to get away from his door, he huddled closer into the corner of his now ruined room._

_What was the point of any of this? School, people, kendo, life... It was all just mindless drivel. He was going to die anyway, right? It was inevitable, so why should he bother doing anything? Years before, during his bright-eyed years of primary school, he didn't get why people comitted suicide. Life was fun, right? He laughed bitterly to himself. Right. Fun. This was completely fun, curling up in a corner and sobbing like a baby at how much he hated... everything._

_There was, of course, one particular person he could focus his hatred on._

_Pulling a laptop out of a a corner of the room, he plugged it in and pressed the power button, watching the screen flicker on. After waiting for it to slowly connect to his terrible internet connection, he opened up the internet browser, angrily clicking out of all the prompts for him to update. He googled the name of a website he had heard rumors about at school. "Revenge Request." It was where one could ask a group of criminals to perform rather unethical deeds, and he had the perfect one in mind. He began to type up his message, directing SEES to have something terrible happen to the person he had lost the Kendo match to. He was being incredibly petty and could get in a whole lot of trouble, but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything at the moment, other than getting revenge on the one man he could blame for his current condition. "Let's see your kendo skills get you out of this..._

_Mamoru Hayase."_

* * *

"This is Minato Arisato. He'll be joining our team."

"Unfortunately..."

"What was that?"

"Didn't say anything, coach."

"Huh." The coach had believed his lie, thank god. The students apparently hadn't heard Minato's little comment either, and they seemed rather enthused to have a new member of the kendo team. Minato was not as excited, but at least Kendo club had a point. This would help him with fighting, which is pretty much what they did in Tartarus, so he wasn't completely wasting time. It wasn't as though Mitsuru had forced him to join the art club or the music club. Or, hell, the _science _club. He wouldn't be caught dead in any of those.

He looked around at the kendo team members, noting them staring at him. Ignoring the homophobic thoughts, Minato inferred that they were probably checking out his muscles. Continuing to ignore the rapidly multiplying homophobic thoughts, his gaze settled on the sole girl in the room. She wasn't bad on the eyes, but was the school really so stereotypically sexist that there was only a single woman on the kendo team?

"This is Yuko, our manager."

And apparently, she was also only the manager. Social advances, his ass.

Yuko stepped forward, speaking up with a fairly friendly grin. "Hello, I'm Yuko Nishiwaki. Nice to meet you." When Minato's response consisted solely of a vaguely disinterested grunt, Yuko frowned, but kept speaking. "You're a junior, right? We're in the same year, so you can just call me 'Yuko.'" Minato, once again, half-heartedly grunted in response, and for a few moments, no one was quite sure what to say. Awkward silence filled the room, and was eventually removed by the coach in an equally awkward way.

"... Hey! Kazushi!"

One of the members of the club snapped to attention. He had spiky black hair and, in Minato's opinion, looked rather doofy. "Yessir!" The coach, however, seemed to think rather highly of the plain looking person. Minato had a sinking feeling that this was going to lead to a social link. Considering that his life had been following the plot of a terrible anime so far, it was entirely possible.

"This is the future captain of this team. He's a great runner and scores well in competitions." Kazushi looked rather sheepish at the Coach's praise, but Minato seemed unmoved. :You two are in the same class, right? Kazushi, keep an eye on the new guy here, okay?" Minato winced. Yes, this was going to lead to a social link. It was though life was twisting itself around to force himself into frienships he didn't want. Kazushi seemed okay with this new development, however.

"You got it." Kazushi turned away from the coach, moving his attention back to Minato. "You're the guy who went out with Yukari Takeba on the first day of school, right?" Minato stood there for a few seconds, mouth firmly closed with an entirely unamused expression on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, when he just happened to notice Mitsuru walking by the open door. He sighed.

"Yes. Sure. That was me."

Kazushi nodded, smiling and somewhat in awe of the blue-haired teen, much to said blue-haired teen's discomfort. "You're practically famous." This news only added to his discomfort. He was FAMOUS? Oh god, maybe that was why people kept trying to talk to him. "I'm Kazushi Miyamoto. You've seen me around, right?"

"No, not really."

Kazushi looked hurt. Minato was amused by this. "Dude, you're hurtin' my pride... Everyone knows who I am." Before Minato could respond with the obvious answers, ("I'm a transfer student, I'm not socially active, you have an enormous ego, go die in a pit, etc.") Kazushi just kept talking, seeming to completely forget about his apparently wounded pride. "Just because you joined mid season, don't think that I'm going to go easy on you!"

Minato heard a noise like cracking glass in his head.

_"What."_

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."_

Yuko was saying stuff about a uniform or something, but Minato was too busy pondering what exactly constituted a social link. _"I literally JUST met him! How does this equal a social link? By that logic, why don't I have a social link with everyone I've even said a WORD to? By god, this is so inconsistent. My life IS a bad anime!" _

Once the slight confusion had worn off, Minato looked around the place before heading home.

* * *

_"I want something terrible to happen to Mamoru Hayase. Anything, just make him suffer."_

_The once constant clicking in the abandoned room stopped when the glasses-wearing man read this text. Unlike most of the angst-ridden messages they received, this one was short and concise, getting straight to the point. This was one request they may follow up on. Getting up, his baggy pants unfolding into a crinkled mass of fabric covering his legs, the young man walked over to his leader, a pale, almost albino man. "Hey, check out this one. Pretty short, right?"_

_"Hmm."_

_The other man took the laptop from his associate, reading the message closely. He took in every word, every connotation, every hidden emotion dwelling in the confines of the text. He liked what he saw. He called over the third member of their small organization, and she read the message as well. In general, the group agreed to take up this request. The leader, however, had an idea. "This messages... it only says to have something terrible to happen to them, does it not?"_

_"Yeah. What'd you have in mind?"_

_The leader dramatically pulled a silver gun out of his pocket. It had a plain, brown handle, and was emblazoned with four letters on the barrel: S.E.E.S. There was no ammo cartridge._

_He grinned. So did the others._

_"I believe it's time we gave our toy a test..."_

* * *

Tired and weary, SEES exited Tartarus later that night, the last minutes of the Dark Hour draining away. The mood, overall, was jovial. They had just managed to defeat the final guardian of the Thebel Block, and while they were all sore, the faux-school club was happy to know they were making progress. After the battle, they had gone up a few more floors to realize that they could not progress any further. While elated that they had gone up so far, they were worried as to how they would continue up the tower, since no attacks on the shining, transparent wall that blocked their way made any discernible effect. They had given up around the time that throwing Junpei on fire at the gate didn't work. Still, at least they were making progress.

As the others talked on the way back to the dorm, Minato took to looking about. The city seemed so much larger when it was devoid of people, or at least what looked like people. Where there would usually be throngs of late-night wanderers, there were bunches of coffins scattered about the streets. Of course, even then, there were less coffins than usual. Just a couple of them placed here and there, along with that cloaked figure on the sidewalk.

"... Wait, what?"

The talking ceased, and the others in the group looked at Minato, probably puzzled by his sudden outburst. He pointed towards the figure, who started upon noticing they had been noticing. "Isn't that a person over there?" That particular question was answered by the cloaked figure running off, ducking into a nearby alleyway. That was definitely a person alright. "Oi, wait!" Minato proceeded to run off towards where the person had been, the others following.

"Hold on!"

"We want to help you!"

"Wait!"

All remarks went unheard, as by the time they reached the entrance into the alleyway, the person was out of sight. Since they did just have a laborious session in Tartarus, they felt a bit too lazy to keep looking. Although if you were to ask them, they would say they were "tired" rather than lazy. As the others caught their breath, Minato looked into the alleyway again. Yes, no sign of the person. Only an empty alleyway and that stupid glowing butterfly.

Minato blinked, looking frantically at the rooftop where the butterfly had been, but it had already vanished. Maybe he was hallucinating? It was entirely possible. Around then was the time where the adrenaline rush of chasing after the person ran off, and Minato had to stop to catch his breath. When in the middle of doing, his mouth received that peculiar feeling that one received when they breath in perfume or something through their mouth. He sniffed the air a bit. "Anyone else smell that?"

Junpei, already in dreamland, enthusiastically smelled the perfume with his face red and eyes wide in wonder. "Yeah... Mmm... Strawberries. Must have been a woman." Yukari seemed to take slight offense to the vaguely sexist remark.

"Just because they smell like strawberries doesn't mean they're a woman."

Minato leaned against the wall. "Yeah. Junpei puts on perfume all the time, right?" The rest of SEES laughed, or at least chuckled, while Junpei protested frantically. Eventually, though, they resolved to try and figure out who that person was later, and headed back to the dorm.

* * *

Kendo team practice evidently consisted of pointlessly stepping forward at the same time and smacking your big wooden stick against the other person's big wooden stick. Repeatedly. The exact same motion. When he had signed up for Kendo, Minato had thought there would be... combat practice or something. Not drills that don't actually seem to do much of anything for you. His partner at the moment was Kazushi, and he seemed to be getting _tired _from this. He wearily slapped his big stick forward again, Minato's raising to meet it. "Hah... hah... M-my side is killing me."

Minato, who felt absolutely fine, raised an eyebrow at him. "Oi, weren't you supposed to be some kind of ultra-athlete or something? Toughen up!" He said, rather annoyed. Kazushi was surprised, but seemed to grow a bit more enthusiastic at Minato's urging.

"Toughen up, eh? Hmph... alright!"

He gripped the shaft of his wooden stick harder, and the two continued to go at it for a few minutes. No matter how motivated he was, however, Kazushi was still human, and became tired eventually. To his disbelief, Minato was still perfectly fine. "...How 'bout you?" He said, panting. "You okay? You've been pushing the pace..." Minato actually HAD sped up the speed of the drill considerably, if only to make it vaguely resemble legitimate exercise. "You don't even look tired..." Minato noted that indeed, he felt fine. Even if the exercise was easy, he still should have been at least kind of fatigued. Maybe it was all the training in Tartarus? "Wh-What kind of training have you been doing?"

"Secretly, I fight evil monsters in a hidden tower in the middle of the night by transforming into a Kamen Rider."

For a moment, the drill stopped, and Kazushi looked at him quizzically before chuckling, the exercise resuming. "Hah... good one." And so they continued.

Eventually, the day was over, and as they were putting their sticks away, Kazushi struck up another conversation with Minato. "Man... you absolutely destroyed me." Minato looked at him, one eyebrow raised again.

"What're you even talking about? We didn't even do any fighting today."

"You know what I mean!"

"No, not really."

Kazushi sighed, ignoring Minato's comment. "I knew the Bay Area competition would be tough, but I never expected to be going up against someone like you..." Minato blinked. He'd never even done kendo before, and apparently he was good at it. Tartarus DID help with this stuff! Go figure. "...I've made up my mind!" Minato, who was in the midst of putting away his stick, looked over, to see Kazushi staring intensely at him. It was kind of creepy. "Minato! One day, I'm gonna beat you!"

The sound of cracking glass played through Minato's head.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."_

* * *

_Brown hair. Slightly tanned. Tall. Athletic. Probably exercising._

_There was Mamoru Hayase, taking a late night jog. He had probably lost track of time, since it was almost midnight. The trio would, of course, use this to their advantage. He actually seemed to have a stick of food in his hand. Eating while exercising? Wasn't that kind of counter intuitive? It was, apparently, Takoyaki. "Hey, maybe we should get some food after this. We haven't eaten for a while..." They were sitting on a bench nearby, and he was about to pass them. Their strange appearance attracted a glance, but Mamoru didn't pry into their business. The leader grinned at him, and Mamoru proceeded to run a little bit faster than before. He looked back at Jin._

_"Of course. But for now..." He brought out a pocket watch, listening to the clicking noise it made every time a second passed._

_Click._

_Click._

_Click._

_Click._

_..._

_The clicking stopped. The sky turned green. The people turned into coffins. All except for the trio._

_The casually walked up towards the coffin that had once been Mamoru Hayase, the only female of the group having a cloth laced with some kind of substance at the ready. The leader carefully pulled the coffin open, and Mamoru stumbled out, rather delirious and not sure of what the hell was going on. "What the - mmf!" His mouth was promptly covered by the cloth, and a few moments of struggling later, all movements ceased. The other male in the group caught him as he fell, the girl stepping back. The leader helped bear the load, earning a thanks from his associate._

_The girl picked up an object from the ground. It was the takoyaki he had been eating. Out of a bit of morbid curiosity, she tried the one that looked the least dirty. It tasted like... something that certainly wasn't octopus. She carelessly tossed it over her shoulder._

_The capture of Mamoru Hayase had been successful. Now they just needed to begin the experiment._

* * *

Yet another day of kendo practice began, and this time, they were actually fighting. Minato and Kazushi had already gone, so for the moment, they were watching two people duke it out. It was not, however, a show of exceptional skill and speed. Instead, it looked more like Junpei fighting with himself. Which was to say, it wasn't exceptionally entertaining, and rather embarrassing for the two of them. While Kazushi was yelling at the two of them, either giving pointers or general encouraging remarks, Minato was watching, rather bored, his cheek resting on his fist. Kazushi took notice of this, prodding Minato on the shoulder. "Hey, you should pay attention. We're gonna have to do this too you know."

Minato unenthusiastically sat up a little straighter. "Yeah, yeah..." Kazushi sighed.

"This is good practice for competitions and stuff." He blinked, as if a thought suddenly entered his head. "Hey, have you ever heard of Mamoru Hayase?" Minato leaned against the wall behind him.

"Never heard of him."

Kazushi's eyes seemed to glow with both respect and a little fear as he talked about him. "He's apparently this amazing athlete, and his preferred sport is Kendo. I've heard he has no weaknesses. Like, me for example, I put too much weight onto one of my legs." Kazushi looked over and pointed at Minato. "And you have ridiculous stamina, but your fighting style is still a little bit raw and untamed." He winced. "You still beat the crap out of me, though..." One of the guys in the match was now on the floor, and the other person was unsure whether or not to keep attacking.

Minato crossed his arms. "And this Mamoru guy has no weaknesses?"

Kazushi nodded. "Yeah, apparently he's perfect... Worst of all, we might have to face him next competition." He thought for a moment. "Still though, if we hone your skills a little bit, you might be a match for him." A grin erupted on his face, causing Minato to scoot away a bit. "You hear that? I'm gonna be counting on you next competition!"

Yet more cracking glass.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."_

Minato shrugged. "What about those guys? They've been here longer than I have." He instantly regretted his words, as a particular painful whack to the face by one of the combatant's sticks made the student begin _crying. _Even though he was quite clearly wearing a helmet. Most of the people in the club got up to comfort the crying member, and the slightly more competent combatant was apologizing frantically. Minato just stayed near the back, sighing.

So maybe that was why Kazushi was relying on him to defeat Mamoru during the next competition.

Everyone else was _really _incompetent.

* * *

By the time Minato got back to the dorm, everyone was all huddled around the television. Not one for group activities, Minato was about to head immediately upstairs, ignoring the greetings of his fellows, when he heard what the television was actually discussing.

_"Local star athlete, Mamoru Hayase, has been reported missing after he went for a jog at around midnight..."_

Minato's ears perked up, and he walked backwards to stand behind the sofa. Those on the sofa glanced backwards, but continued to watch. Apparently, just last night, Mamoru had been going for a jog, but never returned home. He also hadn't been at school the next day. Sure, disappearances like this happen all the time, but this one was vaguely more significant because Mamoru was a local kendo star. Minato blinked. Kazushi had been talking about the guy today, actually. How did a super-badass like Mamoru get lost? Inwardly, he chuckled; the star athlete: no weaknesses other than finding your way home. A picture of Mamoru came up on screen, along with a new speaker. _"The whereabouts of Hayase are currently unknown, but police say that the investigation is ongoing. The resident creeper, Manabu Kaerunuma, is a chief suspect in the investigation."_ Minato had seen that guy. Stalked girls all the time. What a creeper.

Junpei spoke first. "He disappeared at around midnight, eh...?" His eyes were far too excited for someone discussing the mysterious disappearance of a student. "Maybe it has something to do with the dark hour! Like, what if one of the shadows ate him or something?"

"Iori," Mitsuru responded, "A shadow wouldn't literally eat him. They would have lured him out of the coffin in order to feed on his Psyche, turning him into one of the lost."

Junpei wasn't good at memorizing terminology. "The lost...?"

"They would received Apathy Syndrome."

"Ooooooh."

Minato snorted. So someone went missing. Big deal, that happens all the time. He probably was just fed up with life and ran away like a pansy. He'll be back whenever he got hungry. _"Besides," _He thought as he went up the stairs to his room,

_"It's not like it'll affect me in any way."_

* * *

_"Mmf! Mmf!"_

_He had woken up a few minutes ago. It was in the middle of the day, around the time Mamoru would be usually going home from school. Instead, he was in an abandoned building, tied up and gagged, being watched by three people he didn't even know. The only knowledge he had about them was that they had apparently kidnapped him. How and why, exactly, he didn't know. One of them was holding a gun, and Mamoru was sweating. He didn't want to die. He didn't even know why he had been kidnapped. He was just some kid who liked kendo; there was nothing really special about him. So why him? Why not someone important._

_Any attempts to escape had been either foiled or didn't work anyway. No matter how strong he was, Mamoru was not the hulk. His raw strength wasn't enough to snap chains. He was also chained to the floor rather tightly, so attempting to fight them even with his hands tied up wouldn't work, since he couldn't actually move. Talking his way out was impossible: the first time he tried it, they had gagged him almost immediately._

_All in all, life was not altogether fun at the moment for Mamoru. It didn't help that the shirtless guy was coming up to him with the gun._

_Wordlessly, he pulled the gun out, aiming it right at Mamoru's forehead. The cold end of the steel barrel pressed against his skin, sweat beginning to slide down the metal as Mamoru began to perspire from worry. Mamorus eyes widened, and he found himself unable to speak, but instead looked pleadingly up at the man in front of him. The leader of the trio chuckled._

_"Don't worry._

_This might tickle a bit."_

_He pulled the trigger._

**_"HENSHIN."_**

* * *

"We're lost."

"No! I told you, this is just a shortcut."

Minato and Kazushi were going to Hagakure to meet with Kenji and eat some ramen. A much better way to restate that sentence would be that Kazushi was forcing Minato to go to Hagakure with him to meet with Kenji so they could eat some ramen, and Minato was really only going due to promises of motorcycles. Unfortunately for both of them, Kazushi had suggested taking a "shortcut," and the two appeared to be horribly lost. Not as though Kazushi would admit it, however. Minato sighed. "If this is a shortcut, tell me why we have passed by this building several times?" They were currently within a labyrinth of alleyways, in a small clearing with a few dumpsters and trash cans. Usually, people came here to do drugs or hobos came here to sleep, but since it was the middle of the day, neither was happening at the moment.

"Because... um..."

"We're lost."

"... Yeah."

Minato groaned, leaning against the wall. "I can't believe you got us lost." It was getting pretty late too. They'd have to find the ramen place quickly, or Kenji would probably be finished eating. Then again, maybe they would just decide to go home, and Minato wouldn't have to be in a social environment. That was a greatly appealing thought.

"Look, it was an accident, okay?"

"What is it with kendo people and getting lost?" When Kazushi looked at him, confused, Minato decided to elaborate. "You know that Mamoru guy you were talking to me about last meeting? The guy you were fanboying over?" Kazushi nodded, although his protesting at the use of the word "fanboying" was interrupted by Minato continuing to speak, and he was fairly interested in what he had to say. "He's been reported missing. He disappeared during a walk, so maybe he somehow got lost. Sort of like how we are right now."

Kazushi gave a quick, "Huh." The news of Hayase's disappearance was rather surprising. "That sucks..." Kazushi grinned. "Well, maybe now you won't have to fight him?" Minato gave a perturbed look, and would have given a rather rude response to the tasteless joke if it weren't for the noise that Minato heard coming from the second floor of the building they were standing next to.

_**"HENSHIN."**_

The window above the two crashed open, glass scattering all over the floor. Out of it jumped a creature that vaguely resembled a rider, but the suit was far less clean and heroic. If anything, it looked more like a monster a rider would fight. The armor surrounding it looked vaguely like a kendo uniform in a dark blue, only with enormous black shoulderpads. Spiked, dumbbell like objects were attached to the tops of his arms, at least a dozen on each, and his face was covered in a thick, blue material, with a large blue star acting as the faceplate. On that star were yellow compound eyes, shaped to look rather angry. His hands had sharp claws, and there were many other details Minato didn't quite have the time to examine because the creature immediately held out its arms and fired the dumbbells on its arms at the duo.

The one aimed at Minato mostly missed, the explosion knocking him against the wall, but Kazushi took a hit in the leg, being thrown into the wall with a scream. "Kazushi!" Minato scowled. To his classmate's surprise, he pulled a gun out of a hidden holster on his belt. "Looks like I've got no choice." He staggered to his feet pointing the gun at his head. Before firing, he looked at the downed kendo team member. "Run! Hurry!"

He pulled the trigger, and the familiar blue glass spun around him, creating the SEES driver around his waist. Clipping the evoker into the belt and having Orpheus' card appear in his hand at once, Minato struck his usual pose before sliding the card through the top of the Evoker.

"Henshin!"

**_"ORPHEUS FORM."_**

Kazushi scrambled back as a pillar of blue flame rose up around Minato. The creature had ceased its attack, watching the transformation with interest. The flames around Minato disappeared, revealing him in his Orpheus Form armor. Getting into a fighting stance, Minato charged the creature as Kazushi looked on in awe.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."_

_"Thank you for the distraction, Kazushi._" Minato aimed a punch at the creature, but its armor was surprisingly thick, and while the punch did impact, the enemy didn't flinch in any way. He pulled his hand back, shaking it in the air. He had probably done more damage to himself than the creature. He attempted a kick, but it had more or less the same result. Inside the mask, Minato gritted his teeth, setting his hand ablaze. "Doesn't ANYTHING hurt you?" He threw a straight punch at the creature's mask, but faster than what Minato expected from such a heavily armored foe, it caught his fist in its left hand. Minato looked at its other hand in alarm when it reared back into a punch, but was unable to dodge.

The punch tossed Minato back a few feet, and he barely stayed on his feet. "This form won't work, eh? Then what about..." He pulled another card out of thin air, and slid it across the evoker right as his opponent fired more dumbbells at him. These ones apparently exploded. Underneath the deafening roar of the explosions, a voice rang out.

**_"JACK FROST FORM."_**

When the dust cleared, Minato stood there in Jack Frost form, with the Frost Magnum pointed directly at the enemy. He grinned. "Hee ho." And then he immediately slapped his other hand over where his mouth would be. "God_damnit! _Why do I keep saying that?" The creature, apparently not appreciating such antics, began to toss more of his projectiles at Minato. In response, Minato aimed his gun at the dumbbells, shooting bolts of sheer cold at them. They collided in midair, the two attacks canceling each other out in minor bursts of ice and heat. Since his projectiles fired faster, the Kamen Rider took the opportunity to shoot a few blasts at what he now assumed was a shadow, causing blasts of ice to begin pelting him. The creature reared back in pain, but immediately recovered, charging at Minato.

He frantically fired at the shadow more, but it just ran through the bullets, grabbing the Kamen Rider by the neck and tossing him at the wall. Minato smacked into the wall, rolling off to the right. As he scrambled up to his feet, he took the opportunity to look at the creature that was now slowly stalking towards him, noticing one detail wrapped around its waist: a SEES driver, sans evoker. Minato looked up at it in surprise. "It's... a rider?" He rolled to his left, dodging a punch that went through a dumpster, causing the creature's hand to get trapped.

Minato decided to take the opportunity, rider or not. Even if it was a rider, the Blizzard Arcana Crash wouldn't actually kill him. Briefly reprimanding himself for using Junpei's stupid finishing move names, Minato stuck the Jack Frost card into the top of the Frost Magnum as the creature attempted to pull its hand out of the dumpster.

**_"ALL._**

**_OUT._**

**_ATTACK."_**

Minato pointed the gun, point blank, at the enemy rider's face. "Seeya." He pulled the trigger.

The enormous impact of a giant, frozen laser smacking into his face tossed the shadow backwards into the wall, freeing his hand from the dumpster. It cracked into the wall, almost comically sliding downwards into a slumped sitting position. The SEES driver around its waist vanished into shards of blue glass that disappeared into flecks of light, and the rest of the suit dissipated as well, revealing someone Minato had not been expecting: Mamoru Hayase.

From what he remembered of the picture he had seen on the news the night before, it was definitely Mamoru Hayase. He was also wearing those jogging suit things, which also fit the description of when he had disappeared. Minato kneeled down, looking at Mamoru and checking his pulse. He was unconscious. Alive, but unconscious. Looking around, Kazushi was gone. He had, thankfully, run away like a smart person.

Unfortunately, judging from the sirens, he had also called the police like a smart person. Not altogether wanting to deal with the police for the moment, Minato made a hasty escape.

On a nearby rooftop, the leader of the trio watched.

"Interesting..."

* * *

For a while, Minato had contemplated actually going to Hagakure, but decided that was a stupid idea and began to walk back to the dorm instead. Unfortunately for him, he ran into Kazushi on the way. He had been sitting on a bench that Minato usually passed by when going to the dorm. For a little bit, the two just stared at each other awkwardly, with Kazushi breaking the silence. "... What just happened?"

Minato sighed. "Nothing. Forget that ever happened." Ignoring Kazushi's protests, he gestured towards the other teen's leg. "How is it?" Kazushi winced, his face pained.

"Not good... I don't think I can walk." His face moved expressions, now becoming rather forceful. "Anyway, you can't just tell me to forget about it!" He began to make frantic hand motions. "One second, you're another kendo team member and just a normal person, and the next thing I know, we're being attacked by a MONSTER and you just... transform into a Kamen Rider or something! What's up with that?" Minato rubbed his temples. Yep, Mitsuru was going to kill him. See, _this _is what happens whenever he gets friends.

"I don't think I'm allowed to tell you." Minato held his hand out, quelling Kazushi's response. "Trust me, you don't want to get involved with this."

Kazushi frowned, pointing to his leg. "I've already gotten pretty involved. What if I'm seriously injured? How am I going to keep practicing?" He was getting rather worried, and appeared frustrated at Minato, much to his annoyance.

"Look, sorry, alright? Goddamn, I didn't know that would happen." Minato frowned. "I don't even really know what that was, either..."

Kazushi's face softened after a few moments, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Er... Sorry for snapping at you." He looked at Minato, slightly apologetic. "No matter what just happened, you did just kind of save my life, so... Thanks."

Minato was beginning to get tired of that cracking glass sound. It really hurt his ears.

_"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."_

Before Kazushi could say anything else, Kenji walked in, Rio at his side, looking rather full and contented. "Hey guys, where were you? We got tired of waiting, so we just kind of ate..." Minato looked at Kazushi, giving him a look, wordlessly telling him not to tell anyone about what he had seen. Kazushi, being at least semi-intelligent for once, seemed to agree. He did not agree with, however, Minato just walking off.

The blue-haired teen stopped for a moment, looking behind himself. "Kazushi's injured. Take him home." Kenji frowned.

"Hey, then where are you going?" Minato didn't look back, and just kept walking.

"I have questions to ask."

* * *

Minato walked into the dorm, ignoring any greetings and looking around for Mitsuru. She was sitting in front of the table, reading a book. He walked up to her, standing on the side of the table opposite her, and slammed his hands on the table. She put the book down, raising an eyebrow. "What is it, Arisato?"

"I was just attacked by Mamoru Hayase. He had turned into a rider and had a SEES driver on his belt with no evoker." Even if he was confused and rather pissed, Minato did take the oppertunity to relish Mitsuru's expression of surprise before continuing.

_What the fuck just happened."_

* * *

Whoaaah, the suspense! What was up with that? What happened to Mamoru? What happened to him after he was kidnapped by that ~oh so mysterious~ group? Why do they have an evoker? Why was he a crazy rider? Why am I asking questions you won't be able to answer? Are you going to review?

Are you?

ARE YOOOOOOOOOOU?

Because I would be really happy if you did. D: Reviews make my day, you know?


	5. Climax! Minato versus Priestess shadow!

WHOA HEY OKAY NOT DEAD

So, sorry about the long wait you guys. I really should be studying for my AP test, but instead, I decided to write this fic for you nice people! Aren't I nice? Speaking of you guys, something about the reviews I'd like to note: **Please don't suggest things for the plot/ask questions about the plot/riders/characters/ARE YOU GOING TO DO _. **Like, I enjoy responding to these reviews! But I don't like giving spoilers, and if your question involves spoilers, then things get _awkward _so I'd rather you guys just give your thoughts on the chapter and stuff.

To respond:

**Destinydeck: **So hey, funny story about Decade: I saw it inbetween this chapter and chapter 4, and I _hated _it. Like, auuuuugh I could go on a big rant but still. But hey, if anyone likes decade, different strokes for different blokes, etc. Also, as always, thanks for the review and thoughts~

**Kisdota: **YEAH SEE THE COMMENTS I MADE ABOUT WHAT I WOULD PREFER YOU DON'T DO IN REVIEWS ABOVE ALSO SERIOUSLY WHY ARE WE STILL WRITING IN ALL CAPS ALSO THANK YOU

**DLSZ-Boy: **Yeaaaaaaaaaah, I'll try and update faster. Sorry, I'm just kind of disorganized these days, what with AP testing and school and studying and running an RP forum (YOU GUYS SHOULD ALL JOIN PERSONA REBIRTH BY THE WAY, THE LINK IS IN MY PROFILE /blatant plug) and augh fml etc angst angst angst angst. But still, I want to get this fic updated at least once a week.

ALSO REAL MYSTERIOUS GROUP AMIRITE

Thanks for the compliments, and even if you do rider kick me, expect me to return fire with a rider punch.

**Cooking Samurai: **See the comments I made about reviews above, but... why wouldn't they? (Also you have the best name _ever _seriously man)

**Ultimatewolf: **Haha, I'll be taking a lot more creative liberties in the future, trust me~ (Also I don't know whether or not I'm kidding about the alice thing)

**Warden445: **Kamen Rider is pretty awesome, yes. Also thanks~

**Czernobog: **OH MY GOD ACTUAL CRITICISM IN A REVIEW BOG I FREAKING LOVE YOU HUGS FOREVER

But seriously, I'll pay attention to what you said. I'm looking back at chapter one and just going "oh yeah I guess that WOULD have worked better" and noting a lot of my grammar mistakes. I should probably proofread these things sometimes, even if I am just tossing it up onto the pit. _; But seriously, thanks for the actual criticism, and I'll try and integrate it next... next chapter, since 6 is already written. Also you should totally try out Kamen Rider, it's a pretty cool series of shows.

So yeah, trying out two new things starting from now: Writing chapters in advance and next episode previews. Should be self explanatory. Remember, read and review!~ (And yeah I know, the last section is pretty narmy, I couldn't get it right but whatever, rewrote it repeatedly and still couldn't get it right, so feel free to mock me for its narminess.)

* * *

_"_What the fuck just happened?"

It was rather convenient for Minato that no one else was in the SEES dorm lobby, because otherwise, the current situation would be rather awkward. He had just questioned Mitsuru, rather roughly, on why, exactly, he had just been attacked by a student that was using a shadow-esque rider suit. He didn't think that Mamoru had been doing it on purpose, either: it had seemed like the athlete was being controlled, as if driven mad by the power of the suit. And that suit _did _have a lot of power. Orpheus form's punches had barely scratched it, and it took Jack Frost form's finishing move to defeat it. It also seemed to have injured Kazushi, and even if Minato didn't want to admit it, he felt a pang of guilt over not being able to do anything about that. He had been hit in the leg, so he didn't know what would happen to him in terms of participating in Kendo tournaments. Would he be able to? If the leg wasn't too badly hurt, possibly. Otherwise...

Mitsuru quickly recollected her posture after Minato's abrupt, and rather worrying question. She hadn't expected _them _to figure out what their evokers did to people who didn't have the potential, let alone actually use it on people. It seemed, however, that the event had come to pass, and Minato had experienced the effects first hand. Mitsuru cleared her throat before looking up at Minato. "Sit down. This could take a while." Minato proceeded to do just that, preparing himself for some exposition. Mitsuru seemed hesitant on whether or not to give Minato a clear explanation, and not just leave out some key facts. She made the mistake of allowing this to show on his face, and Minato caught up on it instantly. He frowned, leaning over, putting his hands on his knees and bending his elbows.

"Oi... You better not be considering giving me some bullshit explanation." Mitsuru was caught off guard by Minato's statement, but the wild card didn't seem to care much. "Tell me the truth." His intense gaze pierced Mitsuru's mental defenses for a brief moment, but were quickly repelled when she relented, regaining her cool and looking at him square in the eyes.

"Alright."

She took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts for a moment, recalling all the details. When she was ready, Mitsuru began talking.

"Before, when we were first experimenting with the Rider System, the Kirijo Group needed test subjects. We picked up three people from the street, experimenting the system on them." Minato noted that she didn't say whether or not they agreed. He scowled. THIS was the kind of organization he was working for? "They didn't have the potential, but we artificially awakened it. They were given the prototype rider system, and it was a success." She lowered her eyes. "However... the prototype evokers were unstable, and provided them with far more power than we initially thought." Mitsuru's eyes looked at Minato's again. "Your evokers, however, have been stabilized. Unfortunately, this also lowered the power level somewhat, but you're not at risk of _dying._" Minato, who had been about to ask what she meant by 'unstable,' quickly lowered that question.

Mitsuru continued the explanation. "With that power, the three new riders managed to break out of the Kirijo group facility, taking a few spare evokers in the process. It was decided to call that trio 'Strega.' We didn't know where Strega went, but it seems they've popped up again." Minato was rather pleased at the next sentence, as she was finally getting to the point. "Their prototype evokers, when fired at someone without the potential, artificial or otherwise, begins a reaction that turns them into one of those shadow-esque riders. The 'Chthonics.' They're given great power, but are unable to control themselves, attacking anyone in sight." She frowned. "This is probably what happened to Hayase-san, and the only ones with the capability of creating a Chthonic is Strega, so it's likely that they're behind it."

Minato chimed in with a question. "The Chthonics can be changed back into humans though, correct?" He had managed to do so by Mamoru, but the only thing he had really done was beat the crap out of him. Mitsuru nodded.

"Just like the rider suits, the Chthonic armor and mindset will disappear if the wielder takes too much damaged." Minato blinked. Oh. His rather rough method of returning Mamoru to normal did make sense, then. He thought back to the battle against the Venus Eagle. It had tossed Yukari at the wall, and she had un-transformed. That was probably something to watch out for in the future. "So defeating the Chthonics will leave the person underneath mostly unharmed. Still, it is worrying that Strega has resurfaced..."

Minato didn't say much for a few moments, and silence reigned throughout the room. It continued until Minato spoke up, a serious look in his eyes. "I have one question."

"Yes?"

"Were Strega experimented on willingly?" Mitsuru knew better than to wince. Still, that was the one question she didn't want him to ask, and also the one that she didn't want to have to answer. There was no backing out of it now, however. She looked down, as if silently ashamed at her company's actions.

"... The three members of Strega were taken off the streets. They... were not asked permission."

Minato furrowed his eyebrows, his expression growing angry. He stood up, slamming his hands against the table again, starting to yell. "That's bullshit! And I'm supposed to trust the Kirijo Group?" Mitsuru didn't say anything in response, as there wasn't much that could be said. Minato had a point. He was already walking away, but not before looking over his shoulder, shouting, "You're gonna need a damn good reason to get me to continue fighting for your company!" Loud footsteps were heading going up the stairs, and a door slammed.

Mitsuru was left in the lobby, alone.

* * *

After school the next day, Minato was walking around a park, near a trail commonly used for jogging. Through a series of hijinks that will forever go unexplained, he had managed to figure out that Mamoru usually ate Takoyaki on a bench in this park. Honestly, if he had been in Mamoru's place, he'd have liked some explanation as to what happened, no matter how ambiguous. And since he doubted Kirijo-woman would go and tell Mamoru, Minato figured that as the only other who knew about the Chthonics and Strega, he may as well be the one to confront Mamoru. "That is, of course, if I can find the guy..." Minato leaned against a tree, attempting to catch his breath. He had seriously been running around trying to find this Hayase guy for the past hour, to no avail. He would have given up, if it weren't for him realizing that Mamoru was sitting on a bench on the other side of the poor tree, munching on some Takoyaki.

Minato briefly wondered how the guy could continue to follow his usual habits when he had just been _turned into a monster and knocked unconscious _yesterday. Ignoring the question, Minato walked over, standing at the other side of the bench. "... Mamoru Hayase-san, right?" The athlete looked over at him, looking somewhat jumpy at first, but quickly transitioning into a friendly fellow. Minato inwardly yelled at himself. _"Son of a bitch, I've walked into a social link, haven't I?"_

"Yep, that's me!" Mamoru then proceeded to swallow the Takoyaki he had been chewing on while articulating the previous sentence, looking at Minato, who was vaguely grossed out. "What do you want? I've gotta go on a run in a few minutes."

Deciding to get this over with, Minato jumped straight to the point. "I wanna talk about what happened yesterday. And how you disappeared and stuff." Mamoru's face visibly darkened, and he began to look rather worried. He didn't know what happened to him. All he knew was that he had been kidnapped and had vague memories of turning into a monster and attacking someone. Was this a police detective? No, he looked a bit too young to be a police detective, and wasn't wearing a uniform, either. What if he was with the kidnappers? Well, that didn't seem too likely either, as he had just gone up and begun talking to him. Unless, of course, he was a distraction... Mamoru immediately whirled his head around, looking behind him to see if there were any kidnappers nearby. Minato sighed. "Relax. I'm not with Strega."

Mamoru relaxed, immediately trusting Minato. He wasn't with Strega, whoever they were. It was probably those kidnappers, right? Before Minato could say anything, Mamoru opened up with his questions. "What _happened _yesterday? First, I was kidnapped, and then someone points a gun at my head and shoots it, but instead of dying I think I _turned into a monster _and what - " Minato held up a hand, silencing him.

"Oi, oi, oi, let me explain first!" Mamoru complied, looking up at Minato, curious and excited, yet worried. "All you need to know is that those guys won't bother you anymore." Minato blinked. Wait, he didn't actually know that. But hey, it seemed like a smart thing to say. He continued speaking. "You don't need to know more. It was just a standard kidnapping case." Mamoru, however, seemed to disagree as he remembered more about yesterday.

"But I turned into a monster! What happened? And... I was fighting someone too! I think I was... it was..." Memories that he didn't recall actually happening began to flood into his mind. "I think I hurt some guy's leg, and..." Mamoru looked up at Minato, a surprised look in his eyes. "You! You were there!

You transformed into a rider!"

Minato winced. Yeah, this guy remembered. Apparently, people who had turned into Chthonics were able to remember what they had done and seen while Chthonic with a little bit of effort. In this case, Minato had transformed in clear view of the monster, so of course Mamoru recognized him as a Kamen Rider. "Geez, announce it to the whole park, why don't you?" The situation was, suddenly, very uncomfortable. "A-Anyway, just don't look into this! You don't want to get involved." He grimaced. "Getting involved with this is dangerous." He began to walk off, but Mamoru stood up, shouting at him.

"Hey wait! I still have questions!"

"Don't you have to get to your run?" Mamoru looked at his watch, jumping when he realized that Minato was right.

"Oh crap, I do!" He began to cram the Takoyaki down his throat, stuffing the box into a nearby trashcan and zipping up his jacket. Minato chuckled, still walking away. Apparently, according to this guy, practice was more important tha -

The sound of a mirror cracking played in his head.

_"Shit, I was right."_

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana..."_

Minato turned around, watching from a distance as Mamoru began to jog on the trail. He seemed like an interesting person. And nice, too.

He frowned. No one was nice to him for long.

No one.

* * *

"Yo!"

Minato always had wondered how everyone was back in the dorm before he was. Seriously, it wasn't as though he ever left for very long. At least, in his mind. Somehow, it always ended up dark when he re-entered the dorm, even if he felt that he'd only been out for an hour or so, as was the case today. He'd gone straight home after seeing Mamoru, and it was as if it had magically become night. Blaming the phenomenon on his poor time management skills, Minato ignored Junpei's greeting and proceeded to walk upstairs, only to be halted by a question. "Wait! Aren't we going to Tartarus tonight?"

For a brief moment, Minato considered the resolution he'd made yesterday. Yukari took the opportunity to speak up. "I'm not busy tonight, so I'd be able to go." By the time she reached the end of her sentence's first half, their leader was already walking away.

Minato paused before he began to go over to the stairs. He turned his head to the left; a rather useless gesture since his hair covered up his eye from that direction. "You can all go tonight if you want. I ain't going, tonight."

Junpei snorted. "What's the matter? You scared or something?"

His only answer was a door being slammed.

"Man..." Junpei blinked. "What's his deal?"

Mitsuru remained silent.

* * *

_Goddamn, that class was boring._

_Ok, it really wasn't too bad, but the lesson they were learning about the four river kingdoms or whatever was just so dull. Even the teacher didn't seem interested. All that guy liked talking about was the time of the samurai. It must be the highlight of his whole year._

_He seriously couldn't stand it. Having raised his hands to "go to the bathroom," he had decided to make the normally short trip to the bathroom just a bit longer by heading down to the first floor's bathrooms. Shit, he really needed a smoke. When safely in the bathroom, he pulled the business card that stupid Hiraga kid had given him in the trash. That kid was annoying, even if he was club leader. He fumbled with a cigarette case in his pocket, pulling one out with trembling fingers. He'd never done it at school before. Just at his house, when his parents were gone. The feeling of doing it in public was... exhilarating. He pulled a lighter out from his other pocket, sticking the cigarette in his mouth and putting the lighter at the end of it._

_In the rush of pleasure he got from the deed, he never noticed the sounds coming from outside the stupidly large window in the bathroom, or the silhouettes behind it. At least, he never did until the last moment, when they opened and, in a rush of tackling and rough grabbing, he had his mouth covered with some form of cloth, a few miscellaneous objects falling out of his pockets in the process. Within moments, he was out like a light._

_Takaya Sakaki grinned. Another one captured._

_Goddamn, they were good._

* * *

Kendo club was scheduled for after school, but Minato wasn't feeling up to it. They had a tournament coming up, so he probably should have gone, but he was kind of nervous. Not for the tournament, but what would happen if he saw Kazushi. That was be awkward, especially if he was still curious about what was up with the fact that Minato had turned into a rider right in front of him.

So, instead of going to Kendo club to prepare for the tournament, Minato did the obvious thing with his newfound free time and prepared for the Kendo Tournament.

He didn't actually know why he was jogging on the path. After seeing Mamoru do it yesterday, he had wanted to do it for some reason. A while ago, he wouldn't have been able to jog so much. It seemed as though fighting in Tartarus made for really good endurance training, as Minato felt absolutely fine for quite a few laps. If he had to guess, the wild card would say that he was jogging to burn off stress. School was time consuming as ever, and with the added responsibility of training in Tartarus, he was being run ragged. Of course, these days, he wasn't actually training in Tartarus. Until he found a legitimate reason to fight for a company that kidnapped people off the streets, he would refuse to go to Tartarus or even transform unless he found a damn good reason.

Speaking of reasons to transform, Minato groaned as he noticed Mamoru catching up to him. He had actually been jogging in front of the athlete for a while, hoping that he wouldn't notice who he was and they'd just keep awkwardly jogging in silence. But nope, apparently blue hair made you really easy to recognize. Minato's slight distraction made him slow down, giving Mamoru the oppertunity to pick up the pace to go up and jog next to Minato. Looking to his left, noting that it was indeed that weird blue-haired guy who transformed, Mamoru waved. "Hey!"

Talking while jogging took up energy that could be better expended towards more jogging, but it looked as though Minato didn't have much of a choice. "What do you want?"

Mamoru's cheery expression dropped at Minato's rude response. "I just wanted to talk." Minato attempted to speed up, but Mamoru matched him, step for step. He glanced over at the athlete. Goddamn, this guy was seriously quick on his feet. It didn't seem like Minato would be able to get away any time soon.

Sighing in frustration, Minato looked over in the other direction. "I already told you to not get involved in this stuff. Don't you have anything better to be doing?" Mamoru frowned in response, looking downwards.

"Well, actually, I'm supposed to be buying groceries for my family..." Remembering the reason that he went up to talk to Minato in the first place, Mamoru returned his gaze upwards. "But anyway, just hear me out for a second." Taking Minato's annoyed silence as an agreement, Mamoru kept talking. "So, since you're a Kamen Rider..." Minato was now slightly more okay with social linking someone who was also a Kamen Rider nerd. "There's probably a bunch of stuff going on behind the shadows I don't know about, and some great evil you have to fight. I just happened to get involved for a little bit, so I'll try to stay out of your way from now on." He sighed. "But man... you're amazing!"

Minato raised an eyebrow. "... Eh?"

"You're in high school, right?" Minato nodded in response. This was correct. "Going to school and also being a rider... Man, how do you do it all? I can barely keep up with my own life..." Minato was now more than a little uncomfortable at all the praise, a feeling that was amplified somewhat by the sound of cracking glass.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana..."_

"Hey... By the way..." Mamoru seemed to have yet another comment. "I never actually caught your name." Minato weighed the pros and cons of telling Mamoru his name. There really weren't too many pros, but there weren't many cons either, so hey, why not?"

"Minato Arisato."

For some strange reason, Mamoru looked enormously surprised and confused, stopping in his tracks. This gave Minato the opportunity to start sprinting away from Mamoru. The athlete, strangely enough, didn't do much more than watch Minato leave.

* * *

"Hey! Welcome back."

And once again, it was magically dark. Junpei seemed anxious. "We going to tartarus tonight? I'm up for - "

"No."

Minato walked up to his room, leaving a group of fairly confused teenagers, bar one of them.

* * *

Kazushi's leg, it seemed, was not doing very well. He had taken the flying projectile, courtesy of Mamoru, directly in the leg. The injury wouldn't have been so severe if Kazushi hadn't already put so much stress onto the leg. His style of fighting put too much weight onto it, and that combined with the injury rendered Kazushi barely able to walk, at least for now. Minato found himself feeling bad for Kazushi. The athlete definitely wouldn't be participating in the tournament now. As they did that pointless drill of systematically hitting their large, wooden sticks together, Minato could quite blatantly see the pain in his partner's face. He really didn't know why Kazushi was still practicing. "Oi. Why're you still here?"

Kazushi grit his teeth, continuing to drill through the pain. "Because... I promised that... I would beat you one day." A particularly hard, unexpected whack of the practice sword made Minato take a step back from the force of it. Kazushi grinned. "I can't let something like this stop me." The grin was promptly dropped when he felt a sharp pain in his knee, his face contorting with pain. He absolutely refused to let himself falter and show his pain in any other part of his body. For the slightest of moments, Minato looked worried, but promptly covered it up with an angry face.

"Idiot! There's no way you can be in the tournament like this!" Kazushi grinned, grimacing.

"There's nothing that says I can't try..." He looked up at Minato, worried. "Hey... you won't tell anyone else about this, right?" Honestly, Minato wasn't sure. That would be the smart thing to do, and probably better for Kazushi, but... the sheer determination in the athlete's face as he refused to allow the injury restrain him wasn't something Minato could just shut down. But still, that idiot was going to seriously hurt himself... Minato sighed.

"Fine, whatever. Just know that I think you're being stupid."

Before Kazushi could thank Minato, a thought suddenly crossed his mind, probably shutting off the opportunity for another rank up. "Oh... speaking of the tournament..." Kazushi suddenly started grinning again, worrying Minato greatly.

"... What?"

"The match-ups for next tournament were released." Kazushi put down his sword, limping over and clasping Minato's shoulders. The wild card had an absolutely perturbed look on his face. "You're going up against Mamoru Hayase."

"... Oh." That explained Mamoru's reaction to his name.

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"Gee, thanks."

* * *

Kendo practice wasn't really too difficult, but it sure did take a while. By the end of it, Minato was not only bored, but starved. So after Kendo practice, he resolved to go and stop off at Hagakure and get something to eat before going back to the dorm. He pushed the door open and sat down at the counter, intaking the scent of cooking food, the sound of a bustling restaurant, and the sight of... Mamoru Hayase. Of course. Minato had somehow ended up sitting directly next to the athlete without noticing, and Mamoru had most definitely noticed him, judging from the way that he was pointing at Minato with his eyes widening. He wasn't actually saying anything, due to the large clump of noodles in his mouth. Once he finally got around to swallowing, Mamoru spoke first, as Minato was far too busy smacking his face into the counter at his own stupidity.

"Oh! It's you! Arisato-san." Minato groaned, verbally tossing his order at the person behind the counter before replying to Mamoru.

"Are you stalking me or something?"

Mamoru laughed, thinking his question to be a joke, when Minato had actually been completely serious. This was getting kinda weird. Sure, Minato had seeked Mamoru out the first time, but the second time had been the athlete uncomfortably _following _him on a jog, and now they "just happened" to be in the same ramen place. Either these were just a series of very amusing coincidences, or Mamoru was an enormous creeper. Minato vaguely hoped it was the first option, but personally believed it was the second. Mamoru didn't seem to notice this dilemma, however. "Nah, I just come to this place a lot. Gotta take a break from takoyaki sometimes, right?"

Minato honestly didn't know _what _was in that "takoyaki," but it sure as hell wasn't octopus. His order arrived rather quickly, as the shop owner already had a pot of what Minato had wanted cooked up, and just needed to place some in a bowl. The wild card gave a vague grunt in response, shoveling some of the food down his throat. By god, he was hungry. Mamoru, apparently much more intelligent that Kenji, noted the silence and opted to keep eating as well. They ate quietly, other than Mamoru's obnoxious slurping, for a few minutes, until Mamoru looked at the food he had left. "Hrm... I wonder if I should take some home so my family can eat to." Minato blinked. That was... kind of gross. Seriously, ew.

He looked over at the athlete, raising an eyebrow. "... Didn't you say you bought groceries or something? Why would you bring your family leftover half-eaten ramen instead of just cooking something?" Mamoru rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish.

"Haha, yeah, it is kinda weird, isn't it..." He sighed. "But still, I can't cook, and all of my siblings are too young to make anything but cereal." Minato didn't manage to stop himself in time from making the obvious, but potentially insensitive, question.

"What about your parents?"

"..." Mamoru looked down at his Ramen, not meeting Minato's eyes as he spoke. "My parents can't really help. My dad's... gone, and mom..." Minato was beginning to regret asking this question. "... Mom got apathy syndrome a while ago, so I've been trying to take care of her." He damn near dropped his chopsticks. Apathy syndrome... That was when someone in a coffin was attacked by a shadow during the dark hour, right? "I've been considering dropping Kendo to get a job so I can support my family better, but..." Mamoru blinked, remembering where he was and who he was talking to. "... Sorry. I guess I sorta started dropping all my problems onto you."

Minato reaffirmatively grabbed his chopsticks a bit tighter, having them snatch a few more noodles. "Yeah. You did."

Mamoru sighed. "But, man... How do you do it? You go to school, live life, do kendo, fight for justice as a rider," Minato almost choked at that last statement. He... hadn't been doing much of that lately, had he? "... and you even have time to go eat ramen!" He leaned back in his chair. "Man... I wish I could do that! You really are amazing."

Minato had been anticipating the sound of breaking glass, but it was still as annoying as ever.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana..."_

More awkward silence (Minato seemed to be running into those a lot lately) ran rampant between the two teens, at least until Mamoru remembered something. "Oh! Right. You're my opponent for the Kendo tournament. Did you know that?" Minato swallowed some more ramen.

"... Yeah. I just found out today."

Mamoru grinned. "Well, we'll see who's stronger at the competition then, right?" He slapped Minato on the back. "Anyway, I've gotta go... I think I'll try cooking tonight." He looked at his finished bowl of ramen. "Not like I've actually got much of a choice.

Seeya!"

Minato continued to eat, and eventually finished, his ramen after Mamoru left. Once he was done, he returned to the dorm and immediately refused to go to Tartarus.

* * *

_"Hey... Hey! Come on! Let me go! This is a joke, right?"_

_They had him tied up and tossed in the corner. Unfortunately, Chidori had forgotten the gag, so they had to listen to him constantly complain. Jin was checking the website for future targets, while Takaya was fiddling with the evoker in his hand. It had been so long since he had transformed... since he had tasted that power. But no, they had to keep their own transformations to a minimum. If they were to do so too many times, their lives would be forfeit to their own strength._

_Transforming others, however, was always a viable option._

_Chidori looked up from her drawing when Takaya stood up, beginning to walk towards the prisoner. Jin stopped typing to watch the spectacle that was about to occur. The prisoner was not so elated. "Hey! Who's walking towards me? I-It was just one smoke in the bathroom! I swear I won't do it again!" Takaya paid no mind, twirling his evoker around his finger in a carefree fashion before pointing it towards the poor delinquent's face. Upon feeling the cold steel pressed against his forehead, the prisoner was no longer so talkative, his throat becoming dry. Takaya took the oppertunity to say a few choice lines._

_"My friend... it seems as though someone wishes great harm on you. This is only part of my job."_

_He pulled the trigger._

**_"HENSHIN."_**

* * *

"Would you quit following me?"

"I'm not trying to, I swear!"

While wandering the alleyways in a fit of boredom, Minato had somehow run into Mamoru via sheer coincidence. How often they managed to accidentally run into each other, at this point, was past the point of being hilariously creepy and was now just _creepy. _Either neither of them were trying to make this happen and this was an enormous misunderstanding, or one of them was stalking the other. And Minato was pretty sure it wasn't himself. Then again, so was Mamoru. The two stared each other down, attempting to figure out who was stalking who in a wordless fashion. They could have continued on like this for hours if it weren't for the noise bringing Minato to his senses.

_**"HENSHIN."**_

In an eerie mirror of the incident with Mamoru, a creature leaped out of a nearby window, landing in between the two athletes. It was a creature that seemed to be completely composed of squares of paper, looking almost like a mummy. Other than its two yellow, demonic eyes and SEES driver sans-evoker, the only other noteworthy part of its appearance was that it seemed to be surrounded by a bright red fire, with smoke constantly coming off it. Minato's eyes widened, and he instinctively pulled his evoker out of his back pocket. "A Chthonic... then that means...!" He looked up towards the window the creature had jumped out of. There was a white-haired, shirtless man staring down at him. "Oi! You!" His rather stupid choice of blatantly making his knowledge of Strega's presence known was rewarded by Takaya promptly walking away. "Wait, you..."

Minato had bigger problems to deal with in the form of the chthonic. It was shooting a burst of flame at him, and he managed to dodge it by rolling to the side, pointing his evoker towards his head as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Mamoru managing to dodge by more-or-less the same method. He seemed to have better reflexes that Kazushi. Minato managed to roll onto one knee, his left hand planted on the floor and his other pointing his evoker at his jaw, his jacket hanging off him towards the floor. Pulling the trigger, he ignored the sensation of his brain turning to ice and looked at Mamoru. "Get out of here! I'll handle this."

Mamoru noticed the belt forming from glass shards forming around Minato's belt, and decided that leaving the monster to the Kamen Rider was probably a good idea, so he ran out of the alleyway. A familiar sound entered Minato's head. He really didn't need the distraction.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana..."_

In the meantime, Minato stood up, clicking the evoker into his belt with his right hand while bringing a card into his left. He slid the card through the evoker's slot.

"Henshin!"

_**"JACK FROST FORM."**_

Cold ice and wind surrounded Minato, a vortex of it forming around him as the armor materialized, clamping itself onto his body behind the seemingly opaque shield of the freezing tornado. When the swirling cold ended, Minato was in his second-most preferred form, already pulling the Frost Magnum out of the holster at his hip. He pointed it at the Chthonic, firing repeatedly. It merely stood there, almost mocking him as the shots merely melted in the extreme temperatures of its fiery skin. Minato stared at the gun. "... Why did I think that was a good idea?" Out of sheer instinct, he jumped and shot more at the Chthonic when it began to rush him, but to no avail. It managed to land a flaming fist right into Minato's stomach, then his arm, followed quickly by a hail of blows that impacted most everywhere. Even if the fists looked like they were made out of paper, they hurt a lot more than a paper fist would.

Minato was knocked back into a wall, almost falling over but barely managed to regain his footing, taking the oppertunity to backpedal as far away from the Chthonic as he could in the tight alleyway. He shot at it in the process, but they still didn't seem to work. The small bits of ice pelted the Chthonic, but disappeared into hisses of steam upon impact with its fiery body. Minato briefly wondered why it wasn't burning itself up, but decided that it must be immune to its own flames. His arm suddenly began to sting from the effort of pulling the trigger, and he nearly dropped the gun. His other hand reached over, grabbing his arm. Those punches seriously hurt, and a lot more than they should have. "This form uses ice so...

Am I weak to fire?" Minato shook his head, then realized that the Chthonic was coming at him again. "I've got bigger problems to deal with right now than pokemon!" He began to fire at it once more, finding out on the fly that holding down the trigger causes the Frost Magnum to fire a continuous stream of an icy-laser. Unfortunately, the Chthonic seemed to be walking right through it. Still, the area that the laser was hitting had its fire disappear, so he was at least making progress. Slight progress. This still wasn't getting anywhere, so Minato decided to try out some flames of his own. He reholstered the Frost Magnum, pulling out another card from seemingly nowhere. "If that won't work, then..." He slid the card through the slit on top of the evoker. "What about this?"

**_"ORPHEUS FORM."_**

He charged out of the tornado of fire that formed around him, the Orpheus form armor already applied. As he began to run towards the Chthonic, it seemed to decide that the Kamen Rider running towards it was probably dangerous, and thus stopped and shot a burst of fire at it. Minato held his hand out, catching the flames in his hand. Leaping into the air, the Rider drew his now flaming right hand back, throwing a punch at the Chthonic. It impacted, knocking the creature back somewhat, but didn't do any serious damage. Landing on the floor and not being one to give up immediately, Minato immediately set his left hand ablaze, clenching it into a fist. He stood up, sending an uppercut straight into the Chthonic's gut.

This time, it seemed to do a bit of damage. For a moment, he could see the monster's papery skin burning, but it quickly stopped. In a fit of anger, it began to swing its arms wildly, causing Minato to bring his arms up to block the blows. As he did, he began to think about the creature's weaknesses. It didn't burn when he hit it with its own flames, but when he used the fire he generated... "That's it! It's weak to fire, but not its own! The fire surrounding it must prevent my fire from setting it ablaze, because it's _already on fire._" Distracted by his epiphany, Minato didn't notice the kick heading towards him that knocked him back.

"But... How do I hurt it, then?"

The rider thought back to a few seconds ago, when he had caused a little bit of the fire surrounding its body to disappear by shooting it with the Frost Magnum. He parried one punch with his forearm, kicking the monster back a few feet. _"Ice melts in fire. Ice melts into water. And water melts fire!" _Dodging to the side of another charge by the Chthonic, Minato deftly pulled out another card, sliding it through his belt.

_**"JACK FROST FORM."**_

Once again, the snowy tornado appeared around Minato, and he transformed into Jack Frost form. Minato stared the Chthonic down for a few moments, it staring back through its yellow eyes. As the creature charged, Minato pulled the Frost Magnum out of its holster, moving much more confidently. Unfortunately for him, no matter how confidently he moved, he still wasn't moving fast enough to pull off what he wanted to do before the creature reached him.

He hadn't even created the card in his hand by the time the creature was close enough to consider dodging. He decided to try a maneuver that he had never even attempted in his life, only seen on television. He put one foot on the wall next to him, pushing off it to place his other foot above it. With that foot, he leaped up and off the wall with a great deal of height, managing to back flip over the Chthonic. If only by beginner's luck, Minato managed to land directly where he wanted to: behind the creature, and thankfully, on his feet.

The creature had to stop its momentum, giving Minato time to create the Jack Frost card once more, sticking it into the butt of the Frost Magnum.

_**"ALL. OUT. ATTACK."**_

The moment that the Chthonic turned around, it was met by an enormous laser of ice. It growled a horrible, pained growl, struggling to keep its footing while being assaulted by such a forceful attack. The laser was not doing much damage to the actual Chthonic, though: the section of it that wasn't melted by the shield of fire stuck into the creature's body, but was either melted by its internal heat source or merely didn't do much damage at all. It seemed to be resistant to ice attacks.

Then again, Minato had never intended to kill it with this attack in the first place.

As the all out attack began to end, Minato wasted no time and created another card in the hand that wasn't holding the Frost Magnum: Orpheus' card. The very second before the Frost Magnum ran out of ammo, Minato scanned his card through the slot on the belt. Before the vortex of fire appeared around him, he proceeded to do so again.

**_"ORPHEUS FORM._**

**_ALL. OUT. ATTACK."_**

The flaming tornado appeared around Kamen Rider Fool, but within moments it was disappearing. Out of it leaped Minato, jumping higher than he knew he could, his right foot glowing with a fiery energy. He flipped in the air, performing a flying kick at the Chthonic.

Under normal circumstances, this attack would have been mostly ineffectual, due to the shield of fire surrounding the Chthonic. However, Jack Frost Form's all out attack, a massive, continuous burst of ice, had melted due to the creature's fire, and had melted into water, which put out its flaming shield. Although the fire was quickly regenerating, it wasn't regenerating fast enough to be able to block Minato's rider kick in time. And so, when his blazing foot struck the creature's torso directly, it was knocked back, and the paper it was composed of quickly began to burn.

Minato landed on one knee, pushing himself up to his feet, watching the creature squirm. The flames from the rider's attack had over taken the Chthonic's own flames, and it was burning all over. A few seconds later, all of the paper, and the fire with it, exploded off of the poor Chthonic's body, revealing the student inside.

Walking up to the student, Minato took a good hard look at their face. And, eventually, realized that he had no idea who they were.

He COULD go ahead and help them out or something. That'd be the nice thing to do.

"... Eh. They got themselves kidnapped."

Minato walked out of the alleyway, leaving the unconscious student behind.

* * *

"Welcome back."

Minato raised an eyebrow. Mitsuru was talking to him? He would have assumed queeny wouldn't have acknowledged him after his little outburst. She continued talking, surprising Minato further. "It's odd, really, how quiet it's been." Before any awkwardness could ensue from Minato not answering and just walking up to his room, Akihiko jumped in with his own response.

"You're referring to the shadows, I take it?" Minato bit his tongue in an attempt to keep up his silence, and not return with a smartass remark, like, sarcastically telling Akihiko that she was actually referring to the actual noise level in the dorm, obviously. Actually, on second thought, he didn't think that would have been too amusing. It was probably a good thing he held himself back this time. Mitsuru turned her attention to Akihiko.

"It's been a month since the last attack, yet I'm certain that won't be the last time they appear outside of Tartarus." The comment seemed to spark a discussion amongst the SEES members sitting on the couches, about the increasing number of the lost and whatnot. Minato hadn't actually known about that, either. He didn't watch the news much lately. Somehow, with no one noticing, Mitsuru got up from the couch and caught Minato before he began to walk up the stairs.

"Arisato."

Minato stopped in his tracks, and stood there for a moment. He sighed, slowly turning around, an annoyed look on his face. "What? You want something?" Mitsuru only stared at him, her gaze unwavering.

"Have you found a reason to fight?"

Minato's answer was swift and definite: "No." He glared at Mitsuru. "Like I said, you're gonna need a damn good reason to get me to fight for a company that _kidnaps _people off the streets and performs _dangerous experiments _on them without their permission." Mitsuru glared right back at him, although her glare was much less obviously angry, and much more composed.

"I see." Minato snorted, turning around and starting to walk up the stairs. Mitsuru called after him. "Just know that while you're not fighting, the lost are increasing in number."

His step didn't reach the next stair, and Minato paused for a moment. He looked back behind him, but Mitsuru was already walking back towards the couch. Minato frowned, and continued walking up to his room.

* * *

These days, Minato seemed to find himself at the park a lot more than usual. At first, he had just gone to find Mamoru, and then he had decided to jog there, and now he was going there to, well... he didn't actually know why he was there at all.

He was sitting on a bench, staring distastefully at a piece of Takoyaki. They had been bought out of sheer boredom and curiosity, but Minato instantly regretted the decision. One of them had entered his mouth, been chewed up, and been swallowed. Minato's opinion was rather divided: it didn't actually taste too terrible, but it... still didn't taste like octopus. In fact, it tasted more like... something. The fact that Minato couldn't actually put his hand on what he had just eaten was worrying him greatly, and he was considering whether or not to continue eating or to simply go to the doctor. Of course, he wouldn't be able to choose either of those options, because a rather unexpected wrench was thrown into his plans: the arrival of Kazushi.

The fellow student walked up to Minato, a friendly smile on his face, apparently happy to randomly see a friend of his in public. Minato noticed that as much as he tried to hide it, Kazushi's limp was obvious to those who were actually looking for it. "Hey Minato! 'Sup?" Minato sighed, staring, a look of great concentration on his face, at the takoyaki.

"I'm thinking."

"Oh, about the Takoyaki?" Yes, but it was mostly to distract him from the real issue. "Yeah, I don't know what it's actually made of either. But..." Without asking, Kazushi sat down, snatching the piece of food out of Minato's hand and popping it into his mouth. He talked with his mouth full. "'Ish nawt 'ad." Ignoring Minato's annoyed comment of protest, Kazushi swallowed. "So you might as well eat it. I've never gotten sick from it, anyway."

Minato shook his head, sighing. He decided to switch the subject to something much less stupid and pointless. Extending one finger, he pointed it towards Kazushi's lower half. "How're your legs?" Kazushi winced. He didn't like to think about this that much, and enjoyed assuming that his legs were the same as normal and he wasn't crippled or anything.

"They..." Minato already knew the secret, so might as well tell him the truth. "... still hurt. It's getting a little better, since I'm trying to not put so much pressure on them in my form, but it's still..." He left the last word of that statement empty, just make a vague gesture. The message was still received, however, that his legs were not faring well. Minato winced.

"Ah."

"... So, uh..." And he winced again. The inevitable question was coming. Minato thought that he really should have been expecting this. "... You never did tell me what was up with you transforming and stuff." The statement-that-wasn't-quite-a-question-but-still-was-in-effect was left out in the open, and it would be incredibly awkward for Minato not to at least give a vague answer. Minato sighed, deciding to give Kazushi an answer, no matter how non-definite it ended up being.

"It's... secret." Minato paused. "And I can't tell you about it." He barely resisted slapping himself for the redundancy and overall dissatisfying answer. In an attempt to make up for it, he kept speaking. "You were attacked by... A thing that... It was made by... These people and... They're like that because..." The quality of the answer was dropping even further as he kept talking. Frustrated, Minato stood up, wringing his hands. "Gahh, It's... hard to explain without telling you too much." He stopped, taking a deep breath. Stealing a quick glance at Kazushi's leg, Minato made eye contact with his schoolmate, looking rather serious. "But you won't be bothered by those guys again."

Before either of them could either think of something to say, in Kazushi's case, or think of the option of leaving immediately, in Minato's case, yet another unexpected arrival came onto the scene. Kazushi tilted his head to the left, looking behind Minato, causing the wild card to turn around in order to see...

Mamoru. A bag was slung over his shoulder. "... Mind if I talk to you? In private?"

Minato snorted. "Yeah, I do." And turned back around, but was grabbed on the shoulder by Mamoru.

"Please." Something in the athlete's voice made Minato reconsider, and he sighed.

"Alright, alright."

* * *

"What do you want?"

Mamoru's answer was quick, with no hint of hesitancy or awkwardness in his voice. "Please spar with me."

The statement gave Minato pause for a full three seconds before he tilted his jaw, his eyebrows creasing in skepticism. "... Eh?" Mamoru, however, seemed resolute.

"Spar with me!" He took a step forward, staring intensely at Minato. "Come on. You know, a practice fight." Mamoru's sheer determination did nothing to ease Minato's skepticism or overall confusion. The wild card was so shocked, he asked, instead of the obvious question of why the hell they would do that, a completely arbitrary question that assumed that he was going to agree anyway.

"... But we don't even have any of those wooden sword things."

Mamoru shook his head. "We don't need any bokken. Just, you know.." He raised his fists up, moving them around and making a vague punching movement. "With our fists and stuff." Well, that kind of explained how they would, and Minato did need more practice with fighting hand to hand, but he still had one problem with it, and it was the big one. He brought it up as Mamoru placed his bag down on the ground next to him.

"... Why?"

And now, Mamoru appeared hesitant to reveal his reasoning in full. "... We're... gonna be fighting at the tournament anyway, right? Might as well get some training in." Minato could, quite obviously, see that there was a little more to the reasoning than what Mamoru said. It was written all over the other teen's face. Before he could get a chance to comment however, Mamoru took a deep breath, and said, "Alright. Ready or not, here I come!"

"Eh? Hold on - !"

Before Minato even had a chance to react, Mamoru had rushed forward, tossing a fist into his face. It struck Minato dead on, causing the wild card to stagger backwards, wiping his lips. There was a bruise already forming. "Tch. Looks like I don't have a choice..." In response, Minato took a step forward, swinging his clenched fist backwards, hitting Mamoru in the stomach. A follow-up punch was aimed at the athlete's face, but Mamoru caught it in his hand before quickly using his other arm to get Minato into a hold, throwing a knee into his chest. Using the athlete's unsteady grip, Minato took a step forward, gripping Mamoru and tossing him over his shoulder, eliciting a shout of surprise from the kendo star. Mamoru grinned.

"Not bad."

He kicked forward, pushing himself off the floor. In the process, his feet had aimed at Minato's shins, but the persona user jumped backwards wordlessly. As Mamoru stood back up on his feet, he and Minato stared at each other. It was around then that Minato noticed they stood at about the same height.

The fight continued for several minutes, both combatants becoming heavily bruised and injured in the process. They felt each other out, punch for punch, kick for kick, and found that they never truly believed that they were losing or winning. Minato and Mamoru were both breathing and panting heavily, but continued to fight on and on, neither allowing the weight of their fatigue to drag each other down. As Minato readied a punch, Mamoru readied one in return. Both fists slammed into the fists of their targets at once, and both targets fell onto the ground at once. In a way, the fight was like a dance: the two equal combatants clashing in a display of chaotic synchronization.

The cross counter left both teens on the ground, absolutely exhausted. For a period of time that Minato's memory would later refuse to specify, they just laid there, silently deciding the fight was over while regaining their breath. When Minato had enough energy to move his hand, he craned his head forward and reached up to rub his cheek. Yeah, there was a bruise. He smacked the back of his head back against the ground, groaning. "I guess we're equal, huh?"

Mamoru grunted, propping himself up onto his elbows. "Yeah... guess so." After another moment of silence, the two teenagers dragged themselves to their feet. Minato dusting off his pants was interrupted by Mamoru continuing to speak. "But... If we are equals..." The star athlete looked into Minato's eyes, a look of rigid determination affixed to his face. "I'm going to have to match up to you."

Minato looked at him, seemingly expressionless. Mamoru took this as a sign to keep going.

"Even though you're doing Kendo, just like me... you're also fighting as a Kamen Rider."

"... I'm..."

"You're amazing! And if I'm your equal, I need to be amazing too! You're dealing with those monsters threatening our city, and here I am, barely hanging on while dealing with my regular problems... You know that thing I was talking about back in the ramen shop? About dropping Kendo to get a job." Minato nodded, and Mamoru looked off in the distance. Rain clouds were starting to form, but the sun was still managing to shine through. "I think I'll go ahead and do that. No, actually. Not that exactly. I'll get a job... but I won't allow the fate that life has given me to ruin my dream." He looked at Minato, that same look of conviction shining through. "I'll keep doing Kendo while still doing what I need to do to help my loved ones."

He smiled, placing a hand on Minato's shoulder. "Just like you're doing. Kamen Rider."

"Mamoru..."

The moment was essentially ruined by the vibration of Minato's phone. Groaning from how innapropriate it was, Minato fished the phone out of his pocket, reading the text message.

_**There's going to be an operation tonight. We've detected signs of a large shadows. Return to the dorm immediately.**_

Minato sighed. There was no way he was going to skip this operation. Pocketing his phone again, the persona user looked at Mamoru. An odd sense of foreboding was beginning to develop inside his stomach, and the fact that a storm began brewing didn't help. It was probably going to be an incredibly heavy storm, judging from how it started off by tossing a huge downpour of rain onto the two athletes. Before the curse could even leave his mouth, Minato found an umbrella being shoved into his face. Apparently, Mamoru had held it in his bag. Minato blinked, stunned. "... What about you?"

The athlete shook his heads, the raindrops splashing down onto his clothes. The moisture was absorbed into the fabric, adding more and more weight to the clothing, but Mamoru continued to hold the umbrella firm, handing it to Minato. "Relax. I'm fine. You've got somewhere to go, right?"

"..." Minato took the umbrella from Mamoru. He opened it above himself, shielding him from the raindrops. He began to slowly walk away, leaving Mamoru behind. A while away from the athlete, Minato stopped and sighed, before barely turning his head to the side. He spoke at a whisper barely visible above the rain.

"Thank you."

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana..."_

* * *

By the time he had gotten home, Minato had seen the dark hour begin. The obvious happened back in the dorm. Junpei ran in like a blustering idiot, claiming he would rip apart the shadow, and the situation was explained. There was a shadow outside of Tartarus. It was probably big. Thusly, they should kill it. To Yukari and Junpei's continued protests, although it was somewhat quieter this time, Minato was asked to be leader. Ignoring Mitsuru's anxious gaze, Minato immediately nodded affirmatively in response. Really, everything that happened back in the dorm wasn't too much of a surprise. There was really only one thing on his mind.

Trains.

"... The shadow is a train? 'The hell?"

A frustrated sigh came out of the other end of the radio. _"No, Arisato. The shadow is not the train. The shadow is **in **the train." _While Yukari and Junpei just accepted this as fact, Minato tilted his head, about to speak up when he was interrupted by Mitsuru again. _"You're going to have to enter the train and - "_

"I have a - "

"_Wait, Arisato. Once you're in the train, the shadow is likely to have a few comrades. You'll have to fight your way thr - "_

"It's kind of important, though."

Mitsuru's patience was starting to wear thin. _"Allow me to finish, Arisato. The shadow proper is in the first train, and it's likely to have - "_

"Can I really just say something?"

_"... What?"_

"... Why don't we just blow up the train?"

No one said anything for a few seconds.

Junpei, after the intial surprise, seemed very excited by the idea of blowing up the train. Yukari seemed a bit skeptical, but it was Mitsuru who spoke up against the idea. _"... Arisato, that would be highly inefficient and expe - "_

"I'm not saying we blow up the ENTIRE train. I'm just saying we blow up the one the shadow's in. It's likely that it just spawned those other shadows, so they'll probably die when it does."

_"But what if there are people still in the - "_

"In the lead car? Even if the driver was there, the shadow would have gotten them by now anyway."

_"Imagine the repercussions if - "_

"Oh, quiet. You're related to the leader of a big company. Daddy can pull some strings, right?"

Mitsuru, ignoring Minato's tone of voice, appeared to be legitimately considering the idea, as well as Yukari. Junpei, of course, had been completely on board with the ideas of explosions the entire time. Mitsuru still had a single problem, however.

_"... We have no explosives."_

"...

Oh.

Well, let's improvise."

* * *

A few seconds later, the front car had been detached from the rest of the train, flipped over with wind magic, and set on fire.

Minato stood back, staring at his work.

It was _beautiful._

Unfortunately, the beauty wouldn't last long, as a roar soon emitted from inside the burning car. The trio of Persona Users took a step back. Minato instinctively reached for his evoker, Yukari doing the same soon after, with Junpei not doing it at all. A sound of crunching metal followed, and the Arcana Priestess shadow came out of the car. It was moving too fast to see, and all Minato could make out was a blur of white and black that rushed past him, flying through the air. It was a few meters up in the air and directly behind the Riders before it slowed down. Minato took in its details as he pulled his evoker out: it seemed to be of a humanoid shape, resembling a rather attractive woman that would be a lot less extraordinary if it weren't for three details: the first detail was the bright, blood red mask that covered its face, shaped much like a butterfly: the second detail was the fact that it was colored in alternating streaks of black and white: the last detail was its hair, which went down to its feet. What worried Minato the most was that it didn't seem to have a physical form. The Priestess shadow was see through, much like their personae. And, if it were similar to their personae, it wouldn't be affected by their attacks, either.

As the wild card blew his brains out with his evoker, he already knew the belt was forming around his waist. The evoker was clicked into its slot right as the glass shards combined into the SEES driver. Assuming his standard pose, Minato had Orpheus' card appear in his hand.

"Henshin!"

**_"ORPHEUS FORM."_**

The now familiar vortex of fire manifested around Minato, and the armor emerged from within it, clamping onto Minato's body. Once the transformation was complete, the flames were dispelled, leaving Kamen Rider Fool in Orpheus Form. He took a step forward, entering a fighting stance.

**_"IO FORM."_**

**_"HERMES FORM."_**

Looking to his sides, Minato saw that Yukari and Junpei had finished up their transformation sequences. Junpei was holding his sword in a cool looking, yet completely impractical pose, while Yukari was notching an arrow on her bow. Minato clenched his fists, which were then set on fire, and stared up at the Priestess shadow. Oddly enough, it seemed to just be floating there, staring at them. For a few moments, an intense stare-off occured, neither side moving. Both parties appeared to be rather tense and anxious from their posture, although that the same applied to the priestess shadow was a shock to Minato. Either he and the shadow had fought each other in some kind of alternate reality, and the shadow had lost, or the Priestess shadow was just unsure of what to do.

That didn't mean that Minato had to be so unresolved.

Leaping forward, the wild card outstretched one hand while bringing the other back, preparing to punch the shadow in the face. The Priestess had the advantage of being able to float, allowing it to easily dodge to the side. Minato's punch hit the ground, leaving a small, smoking crack in the ground from the impact. Scowling underneath his mask, Minato looked up at the shadow, only to see it running away towards the street. He snarled, starting to run towards it. "You aren't getting away!" Junpei and Yukari appeared to have gotten over their temporary cold feet, and were running towards the shadow as well. Minato soon realized that it wasn't actually running away from them. It was running _towards _something else. In this case, a car.

The shadow disappeared into the car, stopping Minato in his tracks. Had it phased through the car? Or was it just hiding in the car? As Minato took a step closer to see, he would realize that neither of his guesses were correct:

Instead, the shadow had fused with the car.

Metal began to contort and the glass windows shattered, morphing the car into a shape completely isolated from its original form. Mechanical details were placed all over its humanoid body, and it had changed into a messy and complicated looking robot of sorts. Although the black and white colors had been forgotten for the bright red paint of the car, the overall shape of the priestess shadow still remained, although now much more heavily armored. It was also several meters tall.

Minato gulped.

"... Oh fuck.

We're fighting a transformer."

And then it shot _lasers out its eyes._

Minato rolled to the right, while Junpei rolled to the left. Yukari jumped backwards, firing a wind charged arrow into the shadow's face. It struck the robot directly in the eye, removing that particular capability. As the shadow pulled the projectile out of its circuitry, Junpei jumped forward, stabbing his sword into its leg. The blade barely pierced through more than an inch, and setting the weapon on fire didn't do much additional damage. To his horror, Junpei found that he couldn't pull the weapon out. Regarding the Kamen Rider as a mere nuisance, the shadow kicked at Junpei. The sword dislodged, but Junpei found himself flying towards a wall. He crashed against it, leaving a small crater at the impact point as he dropped down onto the floor.

As Junpei struggled up to his feet, Minato set his hands on fire again. "You little...!" Jumping as high as he could, he threw a flaming punch at the shadow's face. This time, it hit. Unfortunately, it was equally as effective as the time it didn't hit. The shadow had sustained little to no damage, not even flinching, but Minato fell to the ground clutching his hand. "Fuck! That hurt... I've had better ideas bef - URK!" The shadow grabbed Minato by the throat, constricting the Kamen Rider's air supply. It raised its other hand, which was armed with a single, long, metallic blade, preparing to impale the wild card with it.

_**"ALL. OUT. ATTACK."**_

An arrow, wind swirling around it like a drill, smacked into the Priestess' hand, knocking it back a little and causing it to drop Minato. The wild card landed rather unceremoniously, scrabbling up to his feet. In the meantime, Junpei had activated both of his arm blades. Instead of being perpendicular to his wrist, they were now parallel to his arms. He leaped onto the shadow's back, stabbing both blades into it and setting both of them on fire. That seemed to do some damage, as the Priestess shrieked in pain, frantically attempting to pull Junpei off. It was proving rather difficult, as now both wing-blades were stuck inside the shadow.

Yukari ran up to Minato, hitting him with a healing spell that removed most of the pain from the bruises. He looked at her. "I thought you hated me?"

Underneath her mask, Yukari grimaced. "You're annoying, but it's not like I can let you die or something."

"Tch." Minato ignored her, and looked over to see how Junpei was doing when the man himself flew over. The shadow had grabbed him and tossed him off, shattering the blades on his arms in the process. He was flung directly into Yukari, and the two tumbled over onto the ground. Minato looked over at the shadow, preparing to fight back when he noticed something rather unsettling.

It had absorbed a motorcycle. That motorcycle was now a large gun. It was aimed directly at the Persona users.

Before the curse could even leave his mouth, Minato, along with Yukari and Junpei, found himself being assaulted by a large, constant stream of some form of cold energy, with bits of ice interspersed inside the beam. All three of them were thrown back, their rider suits disappearing from their bodies, apparently having endured too much damage. Minato found himself sitting against a wall, not sure where Yukari or Junpei were. He feebly wiped some blood from his mouth, shakily attempting to get up. As he fell over, he could see wings sprouting from the shadow's mechanical back, and was forced to watch his prey fly away.

As if motivated by new determination, Minato barely managed to get onto his feet, taking a step forward before faltering again, going to one knee. Out of the corner of his eye, he vaguely registered Mitsuru riding in on her bike, panic in her voice. He looked over as Mitsuru began to heal Yukari and Junpei. The wounds were extensive, so that would take a while.

Minato couldn't walk.

The shadow was getting away.

Mitsuru had a motorcycle.

...

* * *

"Iori, you should be fine now."

"Th-thanks." Junpei was still in shock from the encounter with the shadow. They had been at full power, with all three of them fighting at once, and they had _failed. _He had failed. His wing blades had been broken and he had been tossed into Yukari. If he hadn't been so useless, maybe they wouldn't have been hit by that beam. The consequences of his weakness were starting to catch up to him, at least in his mind.

"Now then, I just need to heal Arisato and..." Mitsuru looked around. Minato wasn't there. "... Where's Arisato?" She noticed something else missing too.

"... And where's my bike?"

* * *

"You think I'd let you get away that easily?"

Minato, now in Jack Frost form, was chasing after the shadow, riding on Mitsuru's bike. The motorcycle felt perfect under his control, and the vehicle responded perfectly to his ministrations. Above him, the shadow screeched, flapping its mechanical wings. It fired blasts of ice at Minato from its large hand-cannon, and Minato began to swerve left and right, dodging each each blast with ease. It shot at a sloppily parked car in front of him, causing it to explode. Grunting in exertion and from the effects of the adrenaline, the Kamen Rider maneuvered the bike to jump upwards, leaping over the explosion. The landing was bumpy, but Minato managed to smooth out in time to dodge a few more blows.

Deciding to return fire, Minato pulled out the Frost Magnum from its slot on his waist. "Take this!" A firefight with ice began to take place between the shadow and the rider, Minato firing at it with the Frost Magnum whilst dodging the Priestess' blasts. As it was difficult to shoot and drive and dodge at once, Minato found himself constantly missing, but when one shot hit, it only bounced off the shadow. It nearly hit him in return, but he curved sharply to the right in order to avoid it at the last moment. "Tch... Stubborn bastard, aren't you?"

As Minato continued to tail the shadow, he began to see where it was heading: the highway. The shadow was planning on turning people into the lost on the highway. While they were driving. If people suddenly got apathy syndrome on the highway... Minato shuddered, thinking of the results. It only strengthened his resolve. Not even knowing if the shadow could understand him, he began to shout towards it. "There's no way I'm letting you!"

Continuing to dodge frantic shots from the Priestess' weapon, Minato continued to talk. "Every person that you turn into one of the lost, every person you attack, every person you harm! They all had a life!" Knowing it was futile, he slid the Jack Frost card into the Frost Magnum.

**_"ALL. OUT. ATTACK."_**

The enormous ice laser scattered off in different directions upon contact with the Priestess shadow, but its sheer size made moving inconvenient for the mechanoid, at least for the moment. "They could be an athlete you hit in the leg, crippling him and ruining his dream... Maybe you hit a single mother, forcing her oldest son to take on more responsibility than he needs..." The all out attack ended, prompting the shadow to fire again at Minato. The shot barely missed, but the wild card felt the impact of the blast. He glowered at the shadow. "The anguish in their lives would be because of you!"

He picked up the pace, the motorcycle roaring as he drove it to faster and faster speeds. "Shadows... absolutely cannot be forgiven!" Raising his right hand to his left shoulder, Minato extended two fingers, a new card appearing in between them. "That is why I will defeat all of you! I might push people away. I might be scared of what could happen. However, I know what I'm not scared of.

I'm not scared of you. Even if I'm too scared to befriend people, I know what I can do! I can fight the monsters they can't, creatures like you! That is my reason for fighting. I will protect others from the shadows that threaten their lives, because I..."

He slid the card through the evoker.

"Am a Kamen Rider!

HENSHIN!"

_**"ZOUCHOUTEN FORM."**_

Lightning struck the motorcycle, and in a flash, Minato had transformed into his new form. It was covered from head to toe in ornate, blue armor. A large sword was slung across the Kamen Rider's belt, and the helmet resembled an old shogun's helmet. The mask was blue, with bright green compound eyes. He had fused Zouchouten earlier, using the power he had gained from Kazushi's social link.

The shadow had almost reached the highway, and was now speeding ahead of Minato. The wild card slid Zouchouten's card through the belt once more.

**_"ALL. OUT. ATTACK."_**

The card disappeared, and with that, Minato's hand was free to reach back and unsheath the sword, which was now glowing with electrical energy. In a completely reckless maneuver, Minato lifted up one foot onto the motorcycle seat and used that to leap off of the vehicle, jumping up into the air. The motorcycle, miraculously, kept upright, continuing to move forward. Pulling the sword back in preparation for a slash, Minato flew towards the air towards his target.

"Hyper Arcana Typhoon!"

His attack name shouted, Minato sliced through the shadow. Zouchouten's blade cleaved the Priestess' body in two, causing it to float there, sparking. Minato fell through the explosion, unharmed, and managed to land on his motorcycle, which screeched as he hit the breaks. The motorcycle soon stopped completely, and he looked back in time to see the Priestess explode, its non-physical body disappearing along with the car. What remained of the priestess was its mask, which clattered to the street.

Minato slowly got off the motorcycle, sheathing Zouchouten's blade. He unclipped the evoker from his belt, causing the Kamen Rider armor to disappear from his body.

Eventually, he reached the mask. For a moment, he stared at it. A few whisps of black and white were coming off of the mask, as if the shadow were attempting to come back to life.

The mask was crushed underneath Minato's heel.

"Accept the responsibility for your actions."

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON KAMEN RIDER FOOL:**

_"Minato, I would like to ask a favor of you." Knowing he really had no choice in the matter, Minato nodded dejectedly. "A while ago, the butt of a cigarette was found on the floor of the men's bathroom on the first floor." She glanced at Hidetoshi, then back to Minato. "I would like you to help Hidetoshi find the culprit."_

* * *

_"If we don't do anything, there's still going to be some idiot ruining himself by smoking and doing god-knows-what-else because we thought that investigating this was '__silly!' _Knowing something happened and not doing anything is almost as much of a crime as the crime itself."

* * *

_The two had decided to test out a new feature of the rider system Mitsuru had told them about. Manifesting their cards between their fingers, Minato threw his card at Junpei and vice-versa. Sliding each other's cards through their belts, its usual voice said a new message:_

**_"FUSION SPELL."_**

**_"_RIDER DOUBLE KICK!"**

* * *

_"I am Takaya Sakaki. Kamen Rider Fortune."_


	6. Dekariders! Minato plays detective!

So hey -

Oh wow, it's been 2 months ALREADY? Jesus, I didn't expect this to take so long. I'm going to be honest: I should have just submitted this chapter a while ago, since it's been done for quite a while. However, I wanted to be ahead in terms of chapters so I chose to wait until I finished 7. Sorry? 7's done, at least. I'll have it up whenever I finish 8 which should be sooner? Anyway, reviews.

**Kisdota: **Yeah ok so if you like, legitimately aren't going to read my fic because you're annoyed that I respond to you in all caps, that is... really silly. Like, seriously, I'm hoping you're joking about that, but just in case you aren't joking, I'll refrain? Anyway, look, I already have the fic planned out. Like, entirely. Suggestions and criticisms on my writing style, characterization, and stuff like that is cine, but I don't want suggestions for the plot because I'm not going to be changing it because it's already planned out. And I don't want people asking what will happen since I won't answer because Id on't want to give spoilers.

Also, I hate hate hate HAAAAAAAAAATE Decade. Like, I wrote this gigantic rant about it. And then I read it out loud. Twice. I put in the decade quotes before I watched the show, so that's why they're in. Tsukasa is a giant mary sue, the characters are all bland and stupid, the plot is full of holes, etc etc etc. *Also yeah, fuuka was a priestess, not fortune.*

**Ranma Uzumaki: **Thanks~

**Destinydeck: **Samurai Kamen Rider? Obviously, he transformed into a shinkenger. _Obviously._ /joking

**Bog: **Ok seriously, these are like, the most helpful reviews ever and I love you

Ok here's a chapter:

* * *

Minato yawned. The climactic battle against the priestess had taken place just yesterday, and by god, he was _tired. _He walked around the halls of Gekkoukan, waiting for lunch to hurry up and end. Unfortunately for him, the period in which he ate and was supposed to socialize during had only just begun, so he had a long time to wait. In his drowsy state, he found himself almost tripping on something at his feet. It was shiny. And metallic. And also light. Rubbing his eyes and yawning, Minato drowsily picked up the object at his feet. It was a can. Maybe it was a soda can. Honestly, he didn't feel like reading the label. Somehow, that would require effort, and he was _waaaaaaaay _too tired to put out any effort.

Though still, he should recycle it. In his current state, the act of walking towards a blue bin and dumping the can in apparently took less effort than reading the can's label. He took one slow step towards the can. Then, he moved his other foot in front of the other one. He vaguely heard some people walking towards him. Nuts. He would have to leave this secluded hallway because he did not feel like dealing with anyone stupid at the moment. Hopefully, it wasn't crazy gun woman. God, she was annoying.

His hand was now directly above the opening to the recycling bin, and his fingers began to release their grip on the can, which would theoretically end with the can dropping into the bin. But for a moment, Minato actually had to recall how to drop the can. _He was really sleepy._ Unfortunately, that good deed would never come to pass, as he found the can being roughly wrenched out of his fingers. The surprise actually caused Minato to wake up slightly. He blinked, his vision becoming much more clear. Standing in front of him were two generic looking guys and some kid who... _"... By god. I don't think I've ever seen someone who looks so slimy without even trying." _He looked at them. "What is it? I'm just doing a good deed." The slimy kid in front motioned towards the kid to his right, the one who had grabbed the can out of his hand. The generic goon held out the can, confusing Minato for a moment before he decided to expend the effort and read the label.

It was a beer can.

"... Oh."

This was a rather compromising situation. Before Minato could say anything to defend himself, he found his arms being roughly grabbed by the two on the slimy kid's sides, with said slimy kid glaring at him. "I'm afraid we're going to have to bring you to the office." Minato just gawked at him for a few moments, comprehending that this situation was quite legitimately happening, before attempting to respond.

"What for? I just found it, I didn't drink it or anything!" Apparently, the slimy kid didn't believe him. The expression on his face said everything. Fighting back would be completely stupid, so Minato decided to just follow along for now, sighing agitatedly and beginning to walk so the other two didn't just drag him around. Slimy kid spoke up.

"We'll hear your story at the office." What was this, a cop show?

* * *

One breathalyzer test later, Minato was pronounced innocent. The breathalyzer had saved his life, or at least, his motorcycle, since Mitsuru was in the room. Hidetoshi frowned, staring at the thing before demanding they do another test. Minato snorted. "What for? It'll just say I'm clean. Again." Slimy kid, who was apparently named Hidetoshi Odagiri, glared at him, before turning to Mitsuru in an attempt to gain some support.

"Just in case. That test could have been faulty, and - " Mitsuru, seeming to be on Minato's side for once, cut him off with a sigh. Honestly, she didn't seem to like Hidetoshi very much. Thinking about it, Minato had heard some rather harsh things about the leader of the disciplinary committee. Maybe it was this guy? He didn't pay much attention to rumors, but Minato already had some rather harsh things to say about Hidetoshi.

"You can try, Hidetoshi, but I don't believe the results will change." Hidetoshi opened his mouth to protest, but promptly closed it. Even he didn't feel like arguing with the president of the student council and the heiress of the Kirijo group. He placed the breathalyzer back onto the table, frustration growing in his face. Whether it was at Minato for so _obviously _being the drinker or himself for accidentally picking the wrong culprit, he didn't exactly know. Mitsuru cleared her throat, snapping the leader of the disciplinary committee out of his thoughts and grabbing the attention of both him and Minato. "Now then..." Her gaze turned to the latter of the persons she was talking to. "Minato, I've been considering asking you to join student council for a while, and..." She didn't get to finish that sentence, due to the protestations of both Hidetoshi and Minato.

"What? HIM?"

"What? ME? Why would I... Of course, I - "

Mitsuru glared at him. Motorcycles.

"... accept. Of course."

She smiled. "Excellent." God_damnit _he was basically her bitch, wasn't he? "Now then, while we'll have to go through formalities later... Minato, I would like to ask a favor of you." Knowing he really had no choice in the matter, Minato nodded dejectedly. "A while ago, the butt of a cigarette was found on the floor of the men's bathroom on the first floor." She glanced at Hidetoshi, then back to Minato. "I would like you to help Hidetoshi find the culprit." Ignoring their protests this time, Mitsuru continued. "Now then, I have some issues to attend to. Kindly spend the rest of lunch investigating." And with that, she turned around, leaving the room within the school's office, leaving behind a momentarily speechless Minato and Hidetoshi.

Minato broke the silence. "Tch... bossy woman."

Hidetoshi turned his head, snapping at Minato, "Don't talk about our student council president like that!"

"Alright, alright. Geez..."

A familiar sound suddenly rang in Minato's head.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana..."_

Minato chuckled, seemingly for no reason. Apparently, Hidetoshi secretly agreed with him. Hidetoshi also was not amused by his chuckling. "What are you laughing at?" Minato didn't answer, only walking out the door.

"Nothing. Come on, we've got a crime scene to investigate." As Hidetoshi said something or other, starting to follow Minato out the door, the wild card stopped, realizing what he just said. By god, this _was _turning into a cop show.

* * *

A brief trip later, Minato and Hidetoshi were in the first floor's bathroom. It had been locked, to the anger of most of the first year males, but Hidetoshi had a key that let them in. Inside it... looked mostly normal. It was about as clean as most of Gekkoukan's bathrooms, and there was very little out of place at first glance. Looking at each other with a nod, the newly formed duo began to search the bathroom for anything out of place. The first, and most obvious, clue they found were some slips of paper on the ground, along with other miscellaneous objects. Other than a few coins, the most important objects in there was a cloth, around the size commonly used to clean glasses, and a few photos, mostly of various landscapes. There were a few of various students.

A big more digging around later, Minato found something interesting in the garbage can: a business card. After reading its text, they figured that it was for a therapist of sorts. This was, since the bathroom had been locked, the last thing placed into that particular garbage can, so it was entirely possible that the culprit had thrown it away as well.

Hidetoshi, in the meantime, had begun to look at the cigarette. "I can't believe someone was stupid enough to smoke during school... what kind of idiot smokes during high school, anyway?" He looked at Minato, a critical look in his eye. "You don't smoke, right?"

Minato raised an eyebrow. "Nope. Not interested." Hidetoshi looked away, nodding in agreement, but Minato managed to catch the look of approval in his eye.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana..."_

He could have just left it at that, but Minato wanted to speak his mind a lot more than he wanted to social link this idiot. "However, I don't think that some kid smoking is just cause to act like... this." When Hidetoshi turned around, a question in his face, Minato elaborated. "Look at us! We're investigating this bathroom like we're cops or something. Honestly, I think this is silly, and the most we should do is make an announcment that smoking is bad, blah, blah, blah, etc."

Hidetoshi glared at him. Minato felt the social link reverse.

___"Thou shalt not have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana..."_

"'Blah, blah, blah, etc,' is EXACTLY what the student who smoked this thing would hear if we just put up an announcement. If we don't do anything, there's still going to be some idiot ruining himself by smoking and doing god-knows-what-else because we thought that investigating this was _silly. _Knowing something happened and not doing anything is almost as much of a crime as the crime itself," Hidetoshi hissed at him, and was about to mouth off even more at Minato when the bell rang, signifying that lunch was over. Standing there awkwardly for a second, Hidetoshi turned around to leave the bathroom when Minato called out to him.

"Oi." Hidetoshi stopped, so the wild card took that to mean that he was listening. "Thinking about it... I guess you're right." Minato didn't say anything else. There were quite a few factors that contributed to him agreeing with Hidetoshi. For one, motorcycles. For another, he did sort of want to get this social link, as they did increase his power somewhat. Having the leader of the disciplinary committee out to get you was also a bad thing. And, oddly enough, he found himself agreeing with Hidetoshi. At the very least, if he was smoking, Minato knew that there was no way in hell he would listen to an announcement.

Glass cracked.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana..."_

Minato went off to his next class.

* * *

One excruciatingly boring class later, (that teacher REALLY needed to shut up about samurai) Minato found himself stepping into the lobby of the dorm. For the moment, crazy gun woman wasn't there, and the only ones in the lobby were Mitsuru and Junpei. Junpei appeared to be preoccupied with his PSP, but Mitsuru noticed his entrance. "Ah, Arisato." She nodded in achknowledgment, to which Minato grunted in response. "How did it go with Hidetoshi?"

Junpei looked up in surprise. "Eh? Minato, did you go on a date?" Both Minato and Mitsuru stared at him in disbelief. Minato replied first.

"... Hidetoshi's a guy." Junpei restrained a giggle, and not very well.

"Yeah, I know."

Minato rolled his eyes, and went sat down on the sofa. It was surprisingly comfortable. Comfortable enough to sleep in... Minato caught himself falling asleep, and realized he had yet to answer Mitsuru's question. Both her and Junpei were now looking at him curiously. "Arisato, are you alright?"

He yawned, leaning over and rubbing his face. "Yeah, yeah. Just tired." He looked at her. "Anyway, to answer your question, it went pretty well. We found a few objects at the scene of the crime, and the suspect list has been narrowed considerably."

Junpei's eyes widened, and he looked enormously confused and intrigued. "Ooh, ooh! What happened? Was there a crime?" Before Minato could snark at the other persona user, Mitsuru interrupted him, elaborating on the situation, describing the cigarette butt found in the bathroom and the incident with the beer can. Color drained from Junpei's face, and Minato was beginning to suspect the rather stupid teen of one of the crimes. He was about to ask when Junpei posed a question. "So... err.. what color was the beer can?" Minato blinked, attempting to remember. He had been really sleepy at the time, but had gotten a good look at the can's label, and from what he remembered, it had been...

"Green."

"Oh..." Junpei grinned sheepishly. "I think that was mine. Whoops?"

A short pause followed before Mitsuru and Minato both yelled out at once.

**"WHAT?"**

"Yeaaaaaaaaah, sorry about that, you guys." Junpei blinked into their angry, staring faces, before realizing the detail he had forgotten to mention. "Oh, but I wasn't actually drinking beer!" Judging from their expressions, the other two weren't buying it. Starting to stutter, Junpei hurridly explained the rest. "I-I filled them with soda! I cleaned them out before! I w-was just doing to trick people!" Mitsuru blinked, seeming to believe him, and just kind of sighed at his idiocy and relaxed. Minato, however, smacked him on the back of the head.

"Idiot. You nearly got me in trouble!"

Junpei rubbed the back of his head. "Ow..." He gave a pathetic smile to Minato, shrugging. "Sorry?" Mitsuru spoke up, catching Minato's attention and diverting the topic from Junpei's antics.

"Anyways, both of you, go upstairs and prepare for a trip to Tartarus. The barrier at the top of Thebel has disappeared, so we will be exploring the new block: Arqa."

Junpei pumped his fists into the air. "Hell yeah! I've been waiting to go back! Can't wait to kick some shadow ass..." Minato frowned at him.

"Oi, you... are you really taking this seriously?"

"Oh, err, of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

Mitsuru frowned at their antics, but didn't comment. "Hopefully, we won't encounter any major problems."

* * *

The only real major problem the encountered was that the shadows in the Arqa block were _really freaking strong._

Minato wasn't sure how many times he had punched this stupid freaking bird already. And his fist was on fire, too! God, he'd hit this thing like, a dozen times by now, and it seemed like he was doing absolutely no damage at all. Maybe the shadows on this floor were invincible, and they were actually all doom -

_"According to my scan, these shadows appear to be completely unaffected by fire spells."_

Minato stopped his fist in mid air, his other hand letting go of the stranglehold he had on the shadow, causing it to fly away. Underneath the mask, his face looked throughly unamused. "Oh gee, _thanks _Mitsuru. I couldn't have used that sooner or something."

**_"ZOUCHOUTEN FORM."_**

With a grunt, Minato stabbed at the bird. Apparently, the small amount of physical damage he had been doing with those punches had taken their toll, as he managed to take out that bird in one, electrified stab. He grinned. "Alright! Who's next - "

Apparently, another one of those damned Black Ravens were next, as one of them smacked into his back, sending him stumbling forward a few steps. He turned around, about to hit it with his sword when he saw that it had just finished charging up a wind spell to aim directly at his face. Cringing in anticipation, Minato was surprised when Junpei jumped in at the last moment. He grabbed the shadow by the neck, tossing it to the ground and ferociously stomping on it. Minato took the opportunity to go ahead and stab it in the neck while it was down, sending electricity coursing into its body through his sword. It sparked for a moment before exploding. Minato looked at Junpei, who gave a thumbs up. "Haha, yeah! That was AWESOME!" He gave a stupid grin. "I guess I don't owe you anymore for the beer can thing, huh?"

Minato snorted. "I'm not sure about that..."

"Come on, it was an accident!"

"Yeah, yeah... Hey, Yukari's in trouble."

Yukari was surrounded by a swarm of the ravens, attempting to fend them off with her bow and arrow. Remembering that she actually had other weapons, she looked to the always odd cow-skull thing that she had on her right forearm, pointing her arm forward and shooting it into the group of shadows. Although it didn't immediately destroy all of them, the wind energy charged within it managed to push the enemies back into range of Minato and Junpei. The two had decided to test out a new feature of the rider system Mitsuru had told them about. Manifesting their cards between their fingers, Minato threw his card at Junpei and vice-versa. Sliding each other's cards through their belts, its usual voice said a new message:

**_"FUSION SPELL."_**

Minato's sword began to spark with electricity, while Junpei's sword suddenly blazed with fire. The two held their swords in a ready position, standing on opposite sides of the small swarm of shadows before leaping through it, slashing through the air only once. They landed on opposite sides, and the shadows stopped flapping their wings, seeming to pause in midair for a full three seconds before exploding in a glorious mess of fire and smoke. They sheathed their weapons, Minato flicking his hand out calmly while Junpei celebrated their victory in a much more active manner: He ran towards Minato and slapped the other rider on the back. "Heck yeah, that was awesome! Now THIS is what I signed up for!"

Minato frowned at that comment.

Junpei looked at him, a hopefully look on his face. "I'm forgiven for that beer can thing now, right?"

Minato snorted, having come to a decision. "This has taken 300 yen off of the 2,000 you owe me for that ordeal."

"... W-Wait, I owe you mon - "

Mitsuru's voice came over on the radio, interrupting Junpei's protestations.. _"Intriguing... Although individually, you both were using electricity or fire, the net damage output was actually almighty damage." _

"Almighty damage? What's that?" Junpei piped up.

_"It's a form of spell that no enemy is capable of deflecting or resisting."_

"Whoa. So we can hurt ANY enemy with a fusion spell?" He looked at Minato, about as giddy as a small child. "Man, Minato, we should totally use these for every enemy! No one would be able to stop us!"

* * *

The next enemy they ended up using a fusion spell on was the first boss of Tartarus: A... table.

Their first reactions were not favorable: they stared at the thing for several seconds, just taking in the fact that the first boss of Tartarus was.. a table.

And then they started _laughing. _A _lot. _Mitsuru's protestations didn't phase them at all.

What DID phase them was when it started beating the crap out of them. THEN they decided to get serious.

_**"FUSION SPELL."**_

At this point, Minato was back in Orpheus form, so the fusion spell would be a bit different this time. Like it did during his regular finishing move, Minato's right foot began to glow with fire. In an unexpected turn, however, Junpei's did as well. He looked at Minato. "Aww yeah. We doing this?"

"We're doing this."

They both jumped up in the air and did a somersault, extending their right foots into a kicking position.

**"RIDER DOUBLE KICK!"**

Unfortunately, their timing seemed to be off: Junpei hit the shadow first, seeming to just bounce off the table with little to no effect, while Minato struck afterwards with the same effect. They both staggered up to their feet, moving away from the enemy. Junpei was confused. "Wh-what the hell? Why didn't it work? Fusion spells do almighty damage, right?"

Mitsuru nodded, although they couldn't see it, and was beginning to make sense of what had just happened._ "It didn't work because you two didn't perform the fusion spell correctly. Because you two were out of sync, Junpei hit before Minato did. Your combined strengths was what caused the almighty damage, but if you strike separately, it's just regular fire damage... which this enemy seems to absorb. It is, however, weak to ice damage."_

Minato was already pulling the Jack Frost card out of thin air before she could say that last word. "Got it." He slid it through his belt.

**_"JACK FROST FORM."_**

As a miniature blizzard whipped around him, Minato shouted at the other two. "Distract it!" As different armor clamped onto Minato's body, Junpei was still in disbelief that their attack didn't work. Yukari decided to use the oppertunity to actually do something tonight, since it seemed like Minato and Junpei were taking all the attention. She slid her own card through her belt, activating her all out attack. An arrow was drawn back on her bow, a miniature green tornado whipping around its tip. The arrow fired, implanting itself into the table and causing it to emit a shriek of pain. At this point, Minato had finished changing. He nodded at Yukari before leaping up into the air, his left foot not gaining any visible changes, but becoming _really _cold. Actually, if one were to look closely, chunks of ice were beginning to form around it.

Jumping up into the air, Minato kicked the arrow that Yukari had shot at the shadow, his makeshift rider kick landing right in the middle of the tornado. The result was a small blizzard being aimed directly at a shadow weak to ice.

It exploded.

Minato walked calmly away from where the shadow had been and punched Junpei in the shoulder. "That's 500 more added to your debt.

"H-hey, wait a minute, why do I owe you money!"

"It's your payment for that incident."

"Why you..."

Minato and Junpei began to shout at each other, and Yukari just watched from the sidelines, shaking her head. "Men..."

* * *

The next day, as Minato was exiting the dorm, he found himself being caught by Junpei. Raising one eyebrow, Minato adjusted his backpack before speaking. "What? You have my money?" Junpei groaned in frustration for a moment.

"Look, I'm not paying you your... Anyway, anyway." The next few words instilled fear into Minato's heart. "Dude, check out what I have..."

"Is it more beer cans filled with soda?"

"No it is NOT more beer cans filled with soda... Ta-da!" Of all things, Junpei pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "You and that Hidetoshi guy are investigating stuff, right? Well then you've gotta wear these! You just HAVE to! Ooh, and you can wear them around school, and, and, and..." Junpei continued to talk excitedly as Minato slowly grabbed the glasses, inspecting them. He then placed them onto Junpei's face. Upside down.

"No."

He walked outside, and was about to begin walking to school, but winced immediately at the heat. Seriously, it was _weirdly _hot that day. He went inside, hanging his school jacket up on the coat rack because he would _not _be needing that today. Pausing by Junpei, who had just frozen in place after Minato put the shades on his head, the wild card went ahead and grabbed the shades back, placing them atop his ears and nose. He looked at Junpei. "Thanks."

As Minato proceeded to casually walk towards his usual route to school, Junpei followed. "W-Wait! We still need to discuss my debt!"

* * *

Right as the period before lunch ended, Minato walked out the door, meeting up with Hidetoshi. Hidetoshi was also wearing sunglasses.

"... You too?"

"It's hot."

"They're going to think we're actually high or something."

"..." That gave Hidetoshi pause. He decided to just ignore the comment. "Let's go investigate."

"Whatever." The two pushed their sunglasses up, and went off to go interrogate some suspects.

* * *

Before they could actually do any investigating, Junpei arrived on the scene. "Oh, 'sup Minato? And, uh, Hidetoshi."

Hidetoshi immediately suspected him. He leaned over to Minato, whispering. "... I think this guy did it." Junpei apparently overheard them, and began to protest.

"Wh-what? Why ME? I didn't do a thing!"

Hidetoshi thought for a moment. "You just look suspicious." Junpei snorted.

"Me? _I _look suspicious! Look at Minato, he's the one_ blackmailing _me for 2500 yen!" Hidetoshi turned to Minato, one eyebrow raised.

"Is this true?"

Pausing from his glare towards Junpei, Minato paused a moment, just for effect, before responding.

"I wouldn't believe him. He _does _look suspicious."

* * *

"It wasn't me! I swear!"

Hidetoshi continued to glare disbelievingly at the short first year student, but Minato glanced disapprovingly at him. That guy seriously was too suspicious of everyone. "We haven't said that it was you. We just need you to supply some information."

"O-Okay..."

"Alright then..." Minato fished through his thoughts for a moment, remembering the evidence they had found in the bathroom. They were interrogating one of the members of the photography club, and the only reason he called it an _interrogation _was Hidetoshi's rather rough questioning at the beginning. "Is there anyone in the club that wears glasses?"

The first year student scrunched up his face, trying to remember. "Well... There's Hiraga-san, he's the club leader. I don't think he'd smoke though... Yamagishi-san is also in the club and she wears glasses sometimes, but... actually, she's been absent for a while, now. Oh, and there's Yaguruma-san, but she - "

Hidetoshi snapped his fingers. "It's Yaguruma." Minato looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"And you know this... how?"

"Her name. It just sounds suspicious, like it would be long to some kind of psychopath or something."

"... Uhuh. Whatever you say."

* * *

"I-I-I-I-It w-w-wasn't m-me! I s-s-swear!"

Holy _jesus _this girl stuttered a lot.

Hidetoshi continued to shout at her, grabbing the attention of every student nearby, who had stopped to watch the spectacle. It really wasn't helping his reputation at all. Minato decided to intervene, grabbing the overzealous student by the shoulders and dragging him backwards. "Holy shit man, calm down! Just let me do the talking..." Ignoring his quip about inappropriate language, Minato went up to the incredibly nervous third year, looking rather calm. "Now then... I'm pretty sure it isn't you, but I'll just make sure: what do you clean your glasses with?"

"E-Eh? W-w-w-w-with th-this..." Chouko pulled out a small, well-used handkerchief. She held it close. "Sora-kun gave it to me~" He noted that she didn't stutter whens he talked about who he assumed to be her boyfriend.

"... Alright then. I'm pretty sure you aren't the culprit, then. When did you receive that handkerchief?"

She was beginning to look suspicious of him, a rather unexpected reaction. "About two weeks ago..." Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know?"

Minato shrugged, holding out the glasses-cleaning cloth they had found in the bathroom. "This was found in the bathroom. Since it's not yours, it's pretty safe to rule you out."

"... O-Oh." Minato nodded.

"Thanks." He walked back to Hidetoshi, slapping the other teen on the back. "Well, hey, we figured out it's probably not her. Our good-cop-bad-cop routine seems to have worked."

"We were doing one of those?"

"Accidentally."

* * *

Minato and Hidetoshi had wasted a solid 20 minutes already, and were now poring over the facts they had. Coffee helped. In a dark, secluded corner of the lunchroom, they placed the notes and various bits of evidence they had on the table and sipped their coffee, thinking over the facts of the case.

"We know that the suspect likely had glasses..." Minato noted, wincing at how hot the coffee was. This shit was _boiling. _"However, out of the three that have glasses, one of them is obviously not the culprit, and another was absent the day of the crime." He stopped. And then he unstopped, because really, the fact that this was becoming a completely silly cop show didn't even faze him at this point. Hidetoshi pulled a thin file out of nowhere, slapping it onto the table with a dramatic relish.

"I went ahead and found the file of the last guy. Keisuke Hiraga. He's club leader, so he's likely to have quite the love for photography..."

"... To the point of carrying around photographs in his pockets?"

"Exactly. He also seems to have issues at home, and occasionally sees the counselor. Apparently, he also sees a therapist on the side."

Minato could feel the case wrapping up already. "And he wears glasses, too..."

"I think we have our man."

"Mmhmm."

They both sipped their coffee.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana..."_

* * *

After school, Minato, Hidetoshi, and several other members of the disciplinary committee were waiting inside an alleyway just outside the school. They had predicted that Keisuke would be walking through here, (don't ask _how) _and were waiting for the guy to walk in front of the alleyway so they could nab him. Hidetoshi was glancing constantly over the corner, waiting for Keisuke to appear. Minato, in the meantime, was commenting on how goddamn silly this entire setup was before Hidetoshi silenced him with a, "Shhh! He's coming!"

Right before Keisuke stepped in front of the alleyway, all five of them walked casually outward, Hidetoshi flashing his official badge as leader of the disciplinary committee. "Keisuke Hiraga. You were smoking in the first floor's bathroom two days ago, weren't you?"

Keisuke was incredibly surprised, to which Minato couldn't blame him, and attempted to deny it. "Wh-What? No, what're you talking about? Of course I wouldn't..."

Hidetoshi snapped his fingers, and the disciplinary committee members were already grabbing his arms. "Save your story for the office."

"W-Wait! I didn't do anything! What did I do?"

"You know what you did."

As Keisuke was dragged off, wailing, Hidetoshi turned to Minato, a rare smile on his face. "Looks like we did it."

"I suppose we did."

Hidetoshi frowned, looking off at Keisuke's retreating figure, and sighed. "That kid... he's still denying it. Still though, by the end of this ordeal, I hope he knows what he did wrong. Maybe then, he'll comprehend the purpose of outlawing smoking, and comes out a better person." He nodded at Minato, crossing his arms, still smiling. "It's nice to know that we might have done that kid a favor." Minato looked over Hidetoshi's shoulder. Yeah, that kid did _not _look like they had done him a favor, at least for the moment.

But hey, he got a social link out of it.

___"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana..."_

Suddenly, an explosion sounded through the alleyway. It seemed to be quite a ways away, but it managed to draw their attention nonetheless. Hidetoshi gawked in surprise, taking a moment to regain cognitive functions as compared to Minato, who had gotten used to all the explosions at this point. "Wh-what the hell was that?"

"Is it a chthonic attack...?"

"A what?"

Minato realized he had been speaking out loud, but coughed to cover up his mistake. "Err, never mind. Let's go check out what it is." The two began to run towards the source of the explosion.

* * *

Actually, Minato had been right: It was a chthonic attack. Hidetoshi stared in disbelief, along with the small crowd, at the creature rampaging around a construction site. It was overly muscular to the point of being bulky, and its skin was a blood red metal, with many rivets and bolts inside it. Its hands were nonexistent, instead being replaced by large, metal spheres that it seemed to be whipping around on chains. Hidetoshi began to wonder _why _he was watching the incredibly dangerous monster destroy a half-constructed building when he should be running away, and was about to do so when he noticed to severe lack of Minato. "... Minato? Where'd you go?" In this situation, it wasn't good to get separated.

It was around that point that Minato was visible on the roof of a nearby building.

Of course, Hidetoshi couldn't tell that it was Minato: he had transformed into Orpheus form, and his face was covered. The leader of the disciplinary committee stared in disbelief, along with several other bystanders. "K-Kamen Rider?"

Minato winced. Aww, shit, he had forgotten that he was doing this in public this time. Although, he wasn't completely sure what Mitsuru had against transforming in public, as long as no one actually saw his face. Actually, did anyone know about the existence of the riders? Considering that people were pointing and whispering at him, that was probably a no. He cursed under his breath. Mitsuru was going to _kill him._

Oh well, he had a monster to fight. Leaping from the building, he kicked his leg out and spun in the air, performing a flying tornado kick to the Chthonic's face. It flew backwards, and Minato decided to take the opportunity to tell the idiot civilians to stop staring and leave. "Oi! Stop gawking and get the hell out of here! Hurry!" They took the memo, along with Minato's frantic hand gestures, and fled in all directions, leaving Minato alone with the creature. It growled at him, tossing one of its wrecking ball hands at him. The chains rattled as the heavy, metal sphere smashed into the floor where Minato had been just a second ago, the second one acting similarly as the Rider just ducked it. The enemy spread its arms outwards, sending the weights shooting towards the Chthonic's sides, with Minato in their path. He jumped, backflipping out of their range.

As Minato formed Orpheus' card between his two fingers, the Chthonic retracted his "hands," placing them next to each other in what seemed to be an action akin to pounding one's fists, but in reality, was just it combining the two wrecking balls into a single, _gigantic _wrecking ball. For the moment, Minato's facial expression shifted to one of horror at the blatant disregard for the laws of the universe, but he ignored it, considering that he had just slid a card through his magical gun belt that allowed him to transform into a Kamen Rider using monsters that were apparently part of his mind.

**_"ALL. OUT. ATTACK."_**

The Chthonic began to swing the wrecking ball above its head before tossing it at Minato. Careful to get the timing right, Minato ran right towards it, leaping at the last moment and using the weapon as a jumping point to get even higher into the air. When he was quite a distance above the creature, he pointed his, now flaming, right foot downwards, aiming to kick it in the face. He shouted his attack name in english. It felt only right. "Blazing Arcana Smash!"

His foot hit the Chthonic right in the face, knocking it backwards. Minato pushed himself off it, landing a few meters away on one knee, his left hand splayed out to the side and his right hand placed on the ground in order to balance him. He stood up, turning away from the alleyway he now found himself facing, and looked towards the monster. He flicked his wrist and, coincidentally, the monster happened to explode at the same time. "Accept the responsibility for your actions."

Not untransforming just yet, Minato looked over at where the Chthonic was now laying. Its armor dissipated, specks of it floating off into the sky and disappearing. The victim seemed to be a simple construction worker. It was rather anticlimactic. He was hoping that it'd be the president of the United States or something. Of course, that was entirely improbable, but still... The battle had been surprisingly easy, though. And seemingly not related to anything...

Minato froze. If he was as genre-savvy about Kamen Rider as he thought he was, then that meant...

"I really am growing tired of you interfering in our plans."

Minato turned around. He wasn't fast enough.

**_"HENSHIN."_**

A fist met his face. Minato heard something crack as the gloved hand met his cheek, sending him flying backwards, skidding across the floor. He struggled to his feet, attempting to dust off his legs nonchalantly. He pointed at the newcomer. "Who're... you?" His attempt at seeming cool was ruined when he saw his new opponent. Very thin and off-white armor covered their blank bodysuit, and a black X was placed on his face, composed out of two strips of metal. Inside the two side portions of that X were yellow eyes, their plain nature depriving this rider, in Minato's opinion, of the vaguely comforting, human-like nature of the appearance of normal riders. The two most striking features were the red veins spreading all throughout its body, and the enormous black wings growing out from behind it.

The rider began slowly walking towards Minato. "I am Takaya Sakaki. Kamen Rider Fortune."

Minato looked the rider over once more, this time noting their belt. It was similar to his own belt, with blue instead of read, but the evoker was not nearly as ornate, and the internal structure seemed different, far beyond a few customizations... He took a step backwards. "You... are you in Strega?" His fists were clenched. It was quite apparent he was preparing for a fight.

Takaya paused, as if amused by the fact that Minato was talking to him. "So it would seem I am. Tell me. If you know of our existence, why do you continue to fight for Kirijo?"

"... I have my reasons." Minato, for a moment, had felt a pang of sympathy for the group, but remembered that they were probably the ones creating the Chthonic. He pointed to where the construction was now lying unconscious. "... Now you tell me something. Were you the one that created that Chthonic?"

Takaya answered without hesitation. "I was."

Anger began to bubble inside Minato. The pang of sympathy was replaced by a sudden influx of rage. He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to collect his thoughts, leading up to a single question. "... Why?"

"In order to lure you out. You have been - "

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT!" Minato roared, charging forward. One fist was held back as Minato charged it with an Agi spell, aiming it right at Takaya's helmet. A vein on his shoulder sprung up off of his suit, wrapping around Minato's fist in midair and stopping it in its tracks. Takaya himself didn't move an inch. Minato gave a battle cry once again, and tried with his other hand. The tentacles appeared again, and proceeded to wrap around both his hands. Growling, Minato refused to allow Takaya to block any attacks he had. That smug 'hmph' the Strega member gave was the last straw. Rearing his head back, Minato proceeded to slam it into the other Rider's.

Not having suspected the move, Takaya stumbled backwards, grasping at his forehead. "Impressive..."

Minato snarled in response. "Where the hell do you get off calling yourself a Kamen Rider?" He pulled Orpheus' card into existence once more. "Riders are supposed to protect the people, not turn them into goddamn monsters!" The card was pulled through the slit on the SEES driver, Minato getting into a ready stance. "You aren't a Kamen Rider. You're nothing but a criminal!"

**_"ALL. OUT. ATTACK."_**

Jumping into the air, Minato tried his flaming drop kick on Takaya. "Blazing Arcana - !"

At least half of the tentacles on the enemy rider's body sprung up and wrapped around Minato, wrapping everywhere around his body. The flames around his foot were snuffed out, and he found himself suspended in the air, unable to move. "Hmph." Takaya still hadn't moved, but the tentacle-veins proceeded to smash Minato into the wall before tossing him onto the floor. Ignoring the pain, Minato attempted to get up, and would have fallen over if he hadn't grabbed the wall in time. Using it to regain his footing, Minato ran at Takaya, aiming to punch him in the face. For the first time in a while, the Strega Rider moved, blocking Minato's wild swing with a simple motion. Takaya's other arm smashed into Minato's face and immediately retracted into a defensive position. His knee shot out, catching Minato in the stomach, and his other hand, still blocking Minato's punch, was pulled backwards and sprung into Minato's face backhandedly, sending the Rider tumbling to the floor.

Sparks were flying from Kamen Rider Fool's armor, and smoke was seeping through the cracks. Minato feebly attempted to pull himself up, but the costume just wouldn't respond. Takaya stood over him. Minato lost the ability to breath as the enemy Rider placed their foot on his chest, and groaned in pain as Takaya proceeded to grind it in.

The Strega Member spoke. "Hmph. Child, allow me to tell you something the Kirijo dogs didn't want you to know...

That attack you just did. The 'all out attack,' was it? I recognized that form of attack." He reached towards his belt and pulled the prototype evoker out of it, Kamen Rider Fortune's armor disappearing from his body. "It relies on the same mechanics that power my Evoker. You know about my evoker, right...?" Slight fear was beginning to grow in Minato's chest, along with the panic. From what he remembered, Strega's evokers were incredibly powerful, but just as unstable. "Every time you use that attack, the instability of your Evoker increases bit by bit... until it's just as bad as mine. Whenever you use that Rider Kick, just remember: You're coming closer and closer to your own persona killing you."

Even untransformed, Takaya's kick to Minato's side hurt. "The only way to suppress it are these pills." He pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, rattling them. "But these will also kill you... just slower."

Minato saw the error messages forming in his vision, and knew that the suit had sustained too much damage to continue functioning. He felt the armor disappear, its familiar weight lifting from his body. As Minato felt his vision fade and himself drift into unconsciousness, he could hear Takaya's last message as the other Rider walked off.

"Do not meddle in our plans again."

Minato lost consciousness.

* * *

Mitsuru uneasily sat down in the cafe, her associate already waiting for her. It was the dead of night, almost closing time, but Mitsuru being the heiress of the Kirijo group helped her get into places late. How exactly her table partner got there first was completely beyond her. She sat there, uneasy, until her associate sipped at her coffee. She placed it down, and broke the silence.

"So... have you been prodding him along like I said?"

Mitsuru nodded. "Yes. He's been following my orders, just as you said he would."

"I see."

"Next you wanted him to... join photography club?"

The associate put her cup of coffee down before nodding affirmatively. "Yes. I'm afraid he's come out a little bit antisocial... I need him to make friends, you see."

The two sat there awkwardly for a minute, occasionally taking sips of their coffee. Curiosity won over hesitency in Mitsuru's mind, and she posed a question. "You... do know what you're doing?" Her associate looked uneasy for a moment, but smiled.

"I certainly hope so."

Mitsuru could smell strawberries.

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON KAMEN RIDER FOOL:**

_The two stared at each other in an awkward manner before Minato broke the silence. "So, what arbitrary activity do you want me to do this time, Kirijo-kun?" Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at him, tempted to chew him out, before sighing. She decided to let his smart mouth go. She did have a job to do, after all._

_"Join photography club."_

* * *

_"I'm just making sure our investigation was thorough, Odagiri." The two glared at each other for a moment. Minato, remembering something his former partner-in-crime said, expanded onto his argument. "That thing you said? About helping someone with a problem?" Keisuke blinked, rather confused. Hidetoshi faltered, but kept up his angry look. Minato continued. "I'm just making sure we're helping the right guy."_

* * *

_Minato extended two fingers on his right hand, bringing it up to his left shoulder. Junpei did the same, and a card appeared in both of their hands. "Remember! We've got to be in sync! ONE MORE TRY!" Minato was holding the Hermes card. Junpei was holding the Orpheus card. They both scanned the slips of paper in the slits in their belts._

_**"FUSION SPELL."**_

_The cards disappeared, and both riders went into a crouching position. They spoke as one._

**"RIDER DOUBLE KICK!"**

* * *

_"Oh... I'm preparing something for Minato. A new weapon."_


End file.
